Former dealership salesmen sentenced for bilking disabled man

Former dealership salesmen sentenced for bilking disabled man

Adrian Dillard, left, confers with his attorney during his sentencing hearing on Friday, May 23, 2008.

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Story Published: May 23, 2008 at 1:35 PM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 8:38 PM PDT

By KOMO Staff

SEATTLE -- Two former employees of the Huling Bros. car dealership were sentenced Friday for their part in bilking a mentally handicapped man out of an expensive pickup truck and stealing thousands in cash.

Ted Coxwell was sentenced to 12 months for theft and money laundering, but he already served the time while waiting in jail for his trail.

His former co-worker, Adrian Dillard, was sentenced to 12 months of work release.

Prosecutors said Dillard was the ringleader in a a case that involved 11 people at the dealership.

Investigators said the victim went to the now shuttered West Seattle dealership in July 2006, wearing soiled clothing and carrying a sack full of $30,000 in cash and told the salesman that he had more than $70,000 still in his house.

Several salesmen sold Richard Grey a high-priced truck, and Dillard and Coxwell broke into his home to steal the cash.

"The evidence shows (Dillard) was the first one, along with Ted Coxwell, to go into Mr. Grey's apartment," Prosecutor Tim Leary said during the sentencing hearing on Friday.

Leary recounted testimony from the trial indicating that Dillard made $25,000 a month at the dealership and said, "there was absolutely no reason that he had to go and steal from Mr. Grey other than to take advantage of an incredibly vulnerable person who was off his medication."

After the theft the victim was hospitalized for psychiatric care, and court documents indicate that while he was at the hospital, he called the dealership to express his concern that his new truck would be auctioned by a towing company that had impounded the vehicle.

He spoke with Paul Rimbey, who convinced Grey to sign over the truck to him and had him sign a bill of sale. Rimbey bought the $30,000 truck back for just $1,200, then kept it and drove it as his own.

Rimbey, who was sentenced in January to 9 months in prison, allegedly even went so far as to have a notary public at the dealership help fraudulently notarize the needed sales documents.

Prosecutors said five other employees at the dealership could face charges related to the theft.

The case against the salesmen became public shortly after the dealership was sold to Gee Automotive. Gee alleges that the notoriety caused sales at the business to plummet, and the dealership was closed last year.

Gee and former owner Steve Huling have both filed lawsuits against each other in the matter.

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