Three Nebraska auto execs disappear... along with 81 cars
Perhaps it began as an innocent experiment among dealer personnel: what would happen if three dealership executives all disappeared on the same day and 81 of the dealership's cars showed up at auto auctions in two other states? The answer to that question is that the FBI went bird-dogging on the hunt for owner Allen Patch, controller Rachel Fait, and General Manager Rick Covello on "suspicion of theft."
Legacy Auto Sales in Omaha, Nebraska was said to be in financial trouble. The three vanishing execs are suspected of trying to sell nearly all the dealership's inventory and then... well, at this point no one knows what they were going to do. But on Saturday and Monday night, transporters arrived at the dealership (that's one of them pictured) and began hauling cars away. When employees showed up for work on Tuesday, the higher-ups were gone and their desks were cleaned out.
The cars, worth $2.5 million, were found being sold at an auto auction in Salt Lake City, Utah, and also discovered in Las Vegas, Nevada. GM Covello apparently turned himself in. Fait was arrested in Tooele County, Utah on Wednesday, while Patch was located at his attorney's office in Utah and has probably been arrested by now. File this one under "Sounded like a good idea at the time..." Hat tip to WS.
[Source: Omaha.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
joe 11:06AM (3/12/2009)
Sorry to correct, but dealership is in Scottsbluff, NE
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Enok 11:20AM (3/12/2009)
Those look like Toyotas.
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superman211 11:45AM (3/12/2009)
No schyt Sherlock!
Gabe 11:22AM (3/12/2009)
Didn't these guys see "Fargo?"
Gotta have dat Tru-Coat...you betcha...
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Brn 11:26AM (3/12/2009)
That's desperation.
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Jay Evans 11:31AM (3/12/2009)
If those 3 executives thought this was a smart idea, then the "bad economy" wasn't the problem at that dealership.
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joker 11:34AM (3/12/2009)
they have already been caught, talk about old news lol
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Randy 2:27PM (3/12/2009)
No kidding!
Someone give them a white Ford Bronco and chase them for a while!
heh
J.Crew 11:32AM (3/12/2009)
The rats scurry when the lights come on!
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Terry 11:41AM (3/12/2009)
It amazes me how people like this actually believe they can get away with such a crime! Did they really think they wouldn't get caught?
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DJ_Swammi 11:47AM (3/12/2009)
What's the big deal? It looks like someone finally figured out how to make some money selling cars in this economy.
Good for them!
/end sarcasm
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Beat-it-nerd 12:12PM (3/12/2009)
It was 81 total Fords and Toyotas...no franchise is immune
mikemaj82 9:05PM (3/12/2009)
Yea really. nothing wrong here. They were doing the dealership a favor by unloading some cars. Nobody else was going to buy them.
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Maxfli82 3:01AM (3/13/2009)
I really hope you're joking about there being nothing wrong.
If not, chalk another point to decaying morals
blu by u 1:10PM (3/12/2009)
At least this was a "bailout" plan with consequences. On the other hand these 3 people must not have bought the "hope and change" line of BS Obama was selling before the election. Had they bought that line they would be happily sitting and waiting for the check to arrive in the mail. Not.
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Disgruntled Goat 1:45PM (3/12/2009)
Way to work a generic Obama slam into an article about auto dealership CEOs stealing cars and then trying to sell them at auction. That's fantastic. You better hurry back to http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/ before someone notices you're missing.
Rich 5:35PM (3/12/2009)
Oh yeah, blame the guy who's been on the job less than two months, not the criminals who stole the cars.
That's real American logic for you...
bill 2:00PM (3/12/2009)
Disgruntled Goat really hit my nail on its head. I could not have retorted better to my generic Obama Slam (is it a new meal at Denny's?) if I tried. As for Rush Limbaugh I must state proudly that I have been a loyal Rush listener since 1992. While waiting in line to pay for groceries yesterday the customer being rung up indicated to the cashier that he was not interested in paying for the groceries for the person waiting behind him because the cashier had actually rung up one or two items by mistake. I commented that I thought redistributing wealth was what we voted for in the last election. Thank you, thank you very much............................
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Rich 5:39PM (3/12/2009)
So whose job is it to put the little barrier things on the belt then?
Social irresponsibility at its finest.
gslippy 3:09PM (3/12/2009)
Well, they did something nobody else has done for quite a while - put car transporter trucks on the road, with cars on them.
When's the last time you saw one?
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