Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- A West Valley man is in jail after stealing vehicles from the car dealership where he was employed, then selling those cars to family and friends and pocketing the money. If convicted, he faces decades in prison.
Taylor was in charge of taking the cars to repair shops and reporting on their progress. But after a few months when the cars didn't return to the lot, the owner became suspicious and called police.
Tony Taylor, 25, is being held at the Salt Lake County jail on 18 felony counts of stolen property and 18 felony counts of theft by deception.
Investigators say he stole 18 vehicles from the dealership he was working at, then sold them at a fraction of the price.
Taylor was a employee at MCS Auto in Salt Lake City. He had worked at the dealership for more than five years as the company's "lot boy."
Charlie Roberts, spokesperson for the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division, said, "He had various responsibilities, cleaning the cars, getting them to the dealership, getting them back, lining the cars up, those types of things."
Investigators from Utah's Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division started looking at Taylor after several vehicles from the lot disappeared -- but not just the vehicles, the paperwork as well.
"He was stealing the titles and then deleting the information off the computer, and taking the other paperwork that goes with the titles along with it," Roberts said.
Investigators say Taylor stole and sold 18 vehicles over a six-month period of time. His employer, Mark Marine, says he suspected Taylor was behind the thefts.
Marine says Taylor was put in charge of taking the cars to local repair shops and then reporting their progress. But after a few months when the cars didn't return to the lot, Marine became suspicious and called police.
"They started to suspect that over the course of time, and the papers led right to him," Roberts said.
Investigators say Taylor sold the cars -- together worth more than $100,000 -- to family and friends.
According to jail documents, Taylor even admitted "to selling them as his own...and receiving approximately $12,000 total for all 18."
Investigators say Taylor now faces a total of 36 felony counts related to the thefts. They also say they're now in the process of recovering the vehicles.
"Even though the people purchased them, the vehicles are not theirs," Roberts explains. "The title they have to those vehicles is stolen property. So our officers and the dealer will work with those people individually, and hopefully recover the vehicle and money as much as possible."
Investigators say they are also looking into whether any of the people who purchased the vehicles from Taylor knew the vehicles were stolen. If it turns out they did, they could possibly face charges as well.
E-mail: spark@ksl.com
