Private eye, police crack suspected vehicle racket
Police have confirmed the arrest of a car dealer who is accused of obtaining close to $4 million from one of his clients for a BMW motor vehicle that was not delivered.
According to Senior Superintendent Marlon Nesbeth, the commanding officer of the St Andrew Central Police Division, the man is to be charged in that matter but more people have been filing similar complaints against him.
A private investigator, who worked on the case and spoke to the Jamaica Observer on condition of anonymity, said that he was retained to gather evidence against the car dealer. He said that he subsequently found out that the accused had already been listed in September as wanted by the St Andrew Central Criminal Investigations Branch in connection with a case of fraudulent conversion.
In November, he was captured during a sting operation executed by the St Catherine South Police’s Proactive Investigations Unit, with assistance from the private eye.
“This man is accused by my client of collecting $3.7 million from him in regards to buying a 5 Series BMW for him. The client paid over all of the money but up to now the car cannot come to light,” the investigator said.
“After I finished investigating it, I set up a sting operation with the police in Portmore, St Catherine. When we nabbed him, the person pointed him out and we wanted to know who else was out there with the same complaint. When I Googled him, he was wanted by the police. Nuff people a bawl because of this man,” he told the Observer, adding that other people have been filing complaints against the accused man.
According to the investigator, exhaustive checks have revealed that there is no physical location for the man’s car dealership, although it is listed on the Companies Office of Jamaica website.
“There is an investigation now that is targeting someone very close to him who he may have channelled money to. He created a car mart that is linked to a banking platform where you can send money,” the investigator said.