SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Since December 2022, Addison Brown has been trying to unwrap in her mind a surprise she received from Phoenix police just days before Christmas.
“Our store got raided,” she said
Brown, who is general manager of Cascio Motors in Scottsdale, said officers served her a search warrant at the dealership as she was assembling toys with her kids and her family.
Officers told her they were looking for four late model Ford F-150 trucks Brown had bought months before.
"We were in complete shock and disbelief. We have systems and procedures in place that helps to limit our risk when it comes to sales.”
Despite paying $65,000 for each truck, investigators told her the trucks were missing from a Ford holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan, and driven to Arizona.
Brown didn’t understand how it happened. She said she ordered parts using the trucks' VIN numbers and never encountered a problem.
“How could this possibly happen? You know. Someone brought a real title. They had a real driver’s license. They had a real truck,” she said.
Brown said before buying the trucks, she double, triple and quadruple-checked the history of each of the trucks.
She said all of them came back clean with no issues.
“Title research is one of my specialties. I help people and companies detect fraud all the time. So how did this get past someone like me? I don’t know,” she added.
After detectives impounded the trucks, Brown said she went to work learning how the deal left her as a victim.
She said Ford never reported the trucks stolen.
She said it would have shown up in the National Crime Information Center database or NCIC if they did.
Brown said she also learned the trucks were given legitimate Arizona titles using Georgia titles reported stolen in 2007.
“Georgia lost 12,000 titles to cars. They notified Arizona of this back in 2007,” Brown said.
“The titles were blank, so there was no identification. So when you put the VIN number on the title, it’s supposed to verify that it's valid,” she added.
"The system failed to stop the transaction. They should have said, No, call Georgia; we don't see this title in our system.” And it didn't and it let the clerk the title clerk create a whole new record. So now when it goes through my checks, why would I have any reason to believe it's not a legitimate title?"
The Arizona Department of Transportation told 12News they are working to learn more details about the incident.
Titles are supposed to be entered through the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System or NMVTIS. The information is available in real time and is monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“There are systems in place that are broken in order for something like this to happen,” she said
12News also contacted Ford to comment on its security procedures and if they knew the trucks had been missing. They sent the following statement:
"Product theft is a sad reality for all manufacturers, including every carmaker, and retailers. The assertion being related by the Free Press makes no sense: that Ford is somehow accountable when criminals sell stolen goods, evidently with fraudulent titles, to car dealers and customers. When we become aware of robberies, we promptly report them to law enforcement agencies. In fact, along with unsuspecting people who purchase these vehicles, Ford and other companies are victims here."
Now what?
So who is the legal owner of the trucks? The answer is still unclear.
Currently, the trucks are being held at the Phoenix police impound lot as investigators unravel the tangled web of ownership.
Brown said she’s not the only victim in the Valley. She says every day, someone has reached out to her with a similar story.
“There are tons of open lawsuits. So there are victims all over town,” she said.
Another victim, she said, lost $75,000 after buying a car that was also reported missing from the lot.
Brown said she’s lost money since the ordeal, and the dealership's 15-year reputation has suffered.
She said their business licenses are jeopardized, and they cannot sell cars at auctions.
“If you just look at the inventory, we’re out. That’s roughly $300,000. When you get into attorney’s fees, loss of business, I would safely say we’re over a million dollars in damages at this point,” she said.
Brown said she has contacted Ford but has not received any communication from them.
She said she’s looking to be made whole from the incident and puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of Ford and ADOT.
She’s concerned about the dangers of unsuspecting victims driving around in cars that police could stop.
“If you don’t know what a felony stop looks like, it’s not pretty. If you pull over the wrong person, someone will get hurt, and I would hate to see that happen before there’s a solution to this,” Brown said.
Brown urges prospective car buyers to purchase from a licensed dealer. Make sure they’re insured and bonded. Triple-check CarFax reports and document your payments so that there is a paper trail in case of fraud involved with your car sale.
“My biggest hope now is that someone at Ford hears me and makes some corrections to their tracking procedures and that ADOT will look into their procedures,” Brown said.
So far, no arrests have been made in the thefts.
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