3 Salesmen to Be Tried in Rolling Back of Odometers

Three used-car salesmen were ordered Thursday to stand trial on felony conspiracy charges for allegedly practicing what officials say is a common but rarely discovered practice--rolling back the odometers on the cars they sell.

The owner of Sunland Automotive Center, Sabri Abdelmassih, 54, and two of his salesmen, John (Ehab) Markarios, 24, and Jorge Ortiz, 48, are accused of lowering mileage figures on five cars and lying about the vehicles’ history to sell them at higher prices, Deputy Dist. Atty. Steven J. Ipsen said.

Department of Motor Vehicles’ officials said they have had a tough time identifying and prosecuting such dealers because most consumers never discover the fraud. A statewide DMV task force formed last April should increase criminal prosecutions of dealers who roll back odometers, said Vito Scattaglia, DMV Bureau of Investigations area commander.

The Sunland Automotive Center case was brought to authorities by William Zinser, who said he purchased a 1988 Corvette with an odometer reading of 29,000 miles from the car lot.

After the car developed mechanical problems, Chevrolet servicemen informed Zinser that according to their records, the car had exceeded the 60,000-mile warranty, Ipsen said. Zinser located the previous owner, who said the vehicle had 70,000 miles on it when he sold it to Sunland Automotive Center, Ipsen said.

Reported Problem

Zinser reported the problem to DMV investigators, who alleged that salesmen at Sunland Automotive Center rolled back odometers on at least four other cars before selling them, Ipsen said.

Abdelmassih, Markarios and Ortiz, all arrested in April, were ordered to stand trial in Van Nuys Superior Court. They are free on their own recognizance. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison.

The DMV task force will begin random spot checks of vehicle registration histories at used car lots and will institute verification procedures at the DMV title processing center in Sacramento, said Scattaglia, whose region includes the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

Odometer tampering “is one of those crimes that is pretty prevalent out there, and it has become a top priority of our bureau,” he said. “You are going to be seeing more and more of these going through the court system.”

“Instead of waiting for victims to come to us, we are taking steps to try and detect these vehicles before people realize they are being victimized,” Scattaglia said.