The former owner of the used car business is facing multiple felony charges and might be in debt to the tune of $3.5 million
For the most part, buying or selling a car is a straightforward process. Nevertheless, as in practically all walks of life, there are also those who try to pull of a scam. Case in point the following individual. The Pitt County Sheriff’s Department has accused used car dealer Willard “Tim” Sutton of allegedly defrauding people to the tune of $257,271.04.
To achieve this, he bought a number of cars from different individuals and paid with checks that he reportedly knew would bounce. Now, he’s in custody facing three felony charges.
Sutton owned and managed Greenville Auto World in South Carolina. Authorities say that they believe he issued his first fraudulent check on June 13th, 2023 when he bought seven vehicles from Greenville Auto Brokers for $147,800. About a month later, on June 30th, he bought another vehicle, this time for $30,290. Again, police claim he used a check that he knew would bounce.
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Between the two dates, an unnamed party filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Greenville Auto World. By late August, another such petition had been filed. Court records allegedly show over $3.5 million in debts owed by Sutton.
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As detectives investigated the case they say that they learned of three more worthless checks totaling $78,184.04 given to an estate for more vehicles. It’s unclear what types of vehicles Sutton was buying.
He now faces one charge of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses Greater than $100,000 and two more of simply Obtaining Property by False Pretenses. He’s currently in custody at the Pitt County Detention Center with a bond of $100,000.
Interestingly, Greenville Auto World still exists, sort of. According to a post on its Facebook page, the used car dealer isn’t connected to Sutton aside from having the same name. “His company went out of business last June 2023. Our corporation and network of dealerships simply moved into this former empty facility. We decided to use the same DBA name since the service and sales department had such loyal customers and the cost of signage replacement was extremely high,” it said.
The Pitt County Sheriff’s Department didn’t comment on what Sutton’s plan was regarding the used cars and how he planned to get away with the scheme.