Man Sentenced to Jail Term in Odometer Ruse

Newport Beach car wholesaler Peter S. Ognibene was sentenced Friday to nine months in County Jail for altering odometers on used cars.

Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey also placed Ognibene, 49, on five years’ probation and ordered him to repay $105,000 to nine car dealers who had to reimburse buyers when they were notified that their odometers had been rolled back.

Ognibene had faced nine years in state prison for his Feb. 21 conviction on nine felony counts of grand theft.

Dickey warned Ognibene that the sentence could be imposed if he violates probation. He was told to report to County Jail in 30 days. He has already served 59 days.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrea Burke told Dickey that Ognibene deserves a state prison sentence and should not be allowed to buy his way out of it by reimbursing the victims. She said Ognibene’s sentence should be a signal to others involved in what she called a “national problem” of odometer tampering by “mileage busters.”

“There is a national epidemic of this kind of thing,” said Rande King, a special investigator for the state Department of Motor Vehicles.

Used-car dealers bought the cars from Ognibene’s now-defunct company, Lease Cars in Newport Beach, knowing that he had reset the odometers, said his attorney, Gerald M. Werksman. He contended during the trail that his client could not have committed grand theft.