Police Arrest Man Suspected of Stealing From Car Buyer

Police arrested a 20-year-old man they suspect stole almost $100,000 by acting as a car broker, collecting the sum and then not delivering the vehicles, authorities said Wednesday.

Robert Douglas Scott was taken into custody Tuesday and is scheduled to be arraigned on grand theft charges today at Municipal Court in Newport Beach. He is being held at the city jail in lieu of $100,000.

Naotake Nakamura of Playa del Rey told police he had met Scott six months ago. After making several legitimate sales, the broker tried to sell Nakamura two Mercedes, Police Sgt. Jerry Holloway said.

Investigators said Scott accepted a $95,260 cashier’s check from Nakamura on June 7 in exchange for the two Mercedes. The broker then took Nakamura to a Buena Park car dealership and told him to wait in the car while the purchase was being finalized, Holloway said.

Nakamura waited for four hours and went looking for the man, who was nowhere to be found. Managers at the dealership had not heard of the broker and didn’t know anything about the two Mercedes that Nakamura had supposedly bought, Holloway said.

“The cars didn’t exist,” Holloway said. “[Nakamura] made this deal before seeing the actual cars,” Holloway said.

Five days later, investigators arrested Scott at his Irvine home. After taking the cashier’s check from Nakamura, Scott bought a brand new $70,000 Viper for himself and banked the rest of the money, Holloway said.

Police recovered the sports car and put a freeze on Scott’s bank account.