Three Eastern Iowans Sentenced In Odometer Rollback Scheme
If only they could do something to roll back the current gas prices!
Three Eastern Iowa men who were found guilty for their roles in a scheme involving odometer fraud and tampering were recently sentenced for their crimes, according to KCRG.
The three men purchased several highly popular makes and models of pickup trucks and would roll back the mileage on the odometers to sell at a higher price. 50-year-old Jerret Schreiber from Parkersburg, 33-year-old David Stangeland from Cedar Falls, and 36-year-old Dustin Arends from New Hartford were all involved and face various punishments involving probation, fines, and prison times.
- Schreiber was sentenced to 6 months in prison and 6 months home confinement after pleading guilty to wire fraud for his involvement in the sale of 17 vehicles. He was also ordered to pay $90,832,55in restitution to his victims.
- Stangeland received one month in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit odometer fraud for his role in the sale of at least 21 vehicles. He was ordered to repay $85,050 in restitution to the victims of his offense.
- Arends will serve three years of probation after pleading to odometer tampering for his involvement in the sale of at least 6 vehicles and will payout $23,200 in restitution.
According to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, an Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) probe was started in 2016 and found the men bought three pickup trucks, manufactured in the early-to-mid 2000s. The vehicles’ odometer clusters were sent to Arizona where they were then changed and sent back to Iowa. The odometers were rolled back by 80,000-100,000 miles before being returned to Iowa and put back in the vehicles which were then sold on Craigslist and through other sources. The men also registered the vehicles under false names to skirt registering with the state of Iowa as automobile dealers.
As these were federal crimes, with sentencing handed down in the U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids last Friday, there will reportedly be no parole granted.