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SALT LAKE CITY — Three men arrested in connection with an elaborate odometer fraud scheme — allegedly selling cars with tens of thousands more miles on them than the buyers were told — and then using the money to buy sports cars for themselves, are now facing federal charges.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Austin Kahle Weilacher, 21, of South Salt Lake, Porter Rockwell Jacob Hamblin, 19, of South Salt Lake, and Austin Timbrell Benson, 20, of Draper, on six counts each of making false odometer statements. Prosecutors say the three men "engaged in an extensive scheme and artifice to defraud used car purchasers through odometer fraud."
According to police, the trio would find high-mileage cars for sale, buy them with cash, disable the digital odometer display, and then resell the cars for more than they were worth by telling the buyer there were significantly fewer miles on the vehicle.
Charging documents say Weilacher and Hamblin bought and sold the cars, and that Benson "worked on the vehicles, including tampering with the odometers of vehicles so they would not be accurate, or they would be broken, thereby inflating the value of the vehicles."
Investigators say the elaborate scheme also involved the three men using false names and creating fake Carfax reports.
The federal charges list six cars that were sold between May and July that had 70,000 to 98,000 more miles on them than the buyers were told.
Unified police, however, believe the scheme has been going on since at least 2021 and there are potentially "anywhere from 300 to 600 victims right now."
Utah trio victimized hundreds in elaborate odometer fraud scheme, police say
Police believe three Utah men arrested Wednesday in an elaborate odometer fraud scheme victimized hundreds of used car buyers and used their profits to buy fancy sports cars.With their profits, investigators say the group was paying cash for sports cars and other high-priced vehicles, such as a Corvette, McLaren, Porsche, Lexus and a Ford F-150.
"The subjects have purchased at least $250,000 worth of vehicles with their illegal proceeds," a police booking affidavit states. Some of those vehicles were purchased in Idaho and Texas.
Anyone who believes they bought a car from the suspects with the digital odometer not working, only to find out after it was fixed that their vehicle had many more miles on it than what they were told, can call police at 801-840-4000 and reference case number CO23-67574.
