Current:Home > StocksUsed car dealer sold wheelchair-accessible vans but took his disabled customers for a ride, feds say -Elevate Capital Network
Used car dealer sold wheelchair-accessible vans but took his disabled customers for a ride, feds say
View
Date:2025-04-14 16:01:31
A Philadelphia used car dealer took disabled customers’ money but failed to deliver the wheelchair-accessible vehicles they had paid for, victimizing more than 100 people across the nation, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
Edward Scott Rock, 47, defrauded customers of more than $2.5 million between 2019 and this year, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia.
In one case, he sold the same 2017 Ford wheelchair-accessible van to 13 buyers over the course of nearly a year, collecting $260,000 along the way — and when he finally did deliver the vehicle to one of those buyers, it came without the proper title, prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed Thursday.
A message was left at a phone number associated with Rock seeking comment, and an email was sent to an attorney who represented him before his indictment.
Some 120 customers in 36 states fell victim to the alleged scam. About two-thirds of Rock’s victims were “persons with a physical or mobility disability, persons over the age of 65, or businesses which provided transportation services to those populations,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.
David Sodemann, co-founder of Boho Camper Vans, a company in Tempe, Arizona, that builds, rent and sells camper vans, said he wired Rock about $25,000 for two Ford cargo vans. A few months later, when the vehicles had not arrived, Sodemann began asking for the money back.
“It was a big mess for a long time,” Sodemann recalled in a phone interview Thursday. “He always had some excuse. He would take pictures of him sending the money back FedEx, but it never got dropped in the mail. It was all just a big show.”
It took almost two years of near-daily phone calls and Sodemann’s company getting a lawyer involved, but Rock finally returned the money, Sodemann said.
Many other customers were not so lucky, according to the indictment. After negotiating with Rock — sometimes in person but most often via phone, email and text — buyers would send Rock tens of thousands of dollars for wheelchair-accessible vans that he never delivered, prosecutors alleged.
Rock sometimes sent refund checks, but he’d either stop payment on them or they would bounce, the indictment said.
Rock was charged with three counts each of mail and wire fraud and one count of mail fraud affecting a financial institution. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison. Prosecutors are also seeking restitution.
Rock’s license to sell cars in Pennsylvania expired in May, according to state records.
veryGood! (14)
Related
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Doctor to stars killed outside LA office attacked by men with baseball bats before death
- How Earth's Temporary 2nd Moon Will Impact Zodiac Signs
- Chappell Roan returns to the stage after All Things Go cancellation: Photos
- Breaking debut in Olympics raises question: Are breakers artists or athletes?
- Sean “Diddy” Combs Accused of Abusing Minors Amid New Allegations
- Ex-leaders of Penn State frat sentenced in 2017 hazing death of Timothy Piazza
- Train Singer Pat Monahan Proves Daughter Autumn Is All Grown Up in Rare Photo for 16th Birthday
- Olympic disqualification of gold medal hopeful exposes 'dark side' of women's wrestling
- Mississippi’s forensic beds to double in 2025
Ranking
- The Daily Money: Disney+ wants your dollars
- Opinion: One missed field goal keeps Georgia's Kirby Smart from being Ohio State's Ryan Day
- What is gabapentin? Here's why it's so controversial.
- Caitlin O'Connor and Joe Manganiello’s Relationship Started With a Winning Meet Cute
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- What is gabapentin? Here's why it's so controversial.
- Why NCIS Alum Pauley Perrette Doesn't Want to Return to Acting
- Travis Kelce Reacts to Making Chiefs History
Recommendation
What to watch: O Jolie night
Carlos Alcaraz fights back to beat Jannik Sinner in China Open final
Travis Kelce Reacts to Making Chiefs History
Analyzing Alabama-Georgia and what it means, plus Week 6 predictions lead College Football Fix
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
Train Singer Pat Monahan Proves Daughter Autumn Is All Grown Up in Rare Photo for 16th Birthday
Maryland approves settlement in state police discrimination case
Bills' Von Miller suspended for four games for violating NFL conduct policy