Four Guilford Township Car Dealership Employees Face Criminal Charges for Odometer Fraud
Tampering with a car’s odometer to make it look like it has traveled fewer miles than it has is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but odometer fraud is still widespread in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Cars have changed a lot since the days where you could turn back a car’s odometer simply by turning a screwdriver in the just the right place, but odometer fraud techniques have evolved to adapt to the times. Even though odometer fraud is a more technologically advanced process than it was when you were a student in driver’s ed, the best way to detect odometer fraud is good old-fashioned attention to detail. Whether you are certain that a car dealer or someone else in the supply chain that conveyed the car to you has tampered with the odometer, or if you don’t have incontrovertible evidence, but the car seems older than it says it is, it is a good idea to speak up sooner rather than later. For help making a strong case for getting compensation for a car sold to you under false pretenses, including a falsified odometer reading, contact a Philadelphia used car fraud lawyer.
Dealership Sold Cars With Falsified Paperwork and Fake Odometer Readings
In September 2025, a criminal court in Pennsylvania charged four employees of a used car dealership in Franklin County with fraud and related crimes. The defendants are Frank Burrell, Trevor Daniels, Stephanie Hetzer, and Virgie Waters. Prosecutors allege that, between late 2023 and late 2024, the defendants falsified the odometer readings on hundreds of vehicles, which they then sold in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. When police executed a search warrant, they found numerous items that they believe that the defendants used to tamper with the odometers of cars. People who bought the cars also told police that the paperwork attached to the cars seemed to be fraudulent or show signs of tampering; for example, the spaces for the odometer readings had numbers that were blurry or looked like they had been written over.
Warning Signs of Odometer Fraud
Even though both odometers and fraud are technologically advanced these days, good old-fashioned sleuthing is your best protection against buying a car where the odometer reading has been falsified. Check the mileage listed on the paperwork, and make sure that it matches the number you physically see on the car’s odometer. Check to see if the condition of the car is consistent with the mileage of the odometer, too. Do the car’s pedals have more wear and tear than the odometer reading would suggest? If the car says that it has less than 20,000 miles, it should still have its original tires.
Contact CONSUMERLAWPA.com About Used Car Fraud
A Philadelphia consumer law attorney can help you if you recently bought a used car, and you suspect that it has more mileage than what its odometer says. Contact CONSUMERLAWPA.com to set up a free, confidential consultation.
Source:
pennlive.com/crime/2025/09/four-charged-in-multi-state-odometer-fraud-scheme-at-pa-car-dealership.html
