New Jersey Auto Shop Worker Sells Customer’s Car to Scrap Yard
A New Jersey woman waited months to get her car back from an auto shop. But mechanics were avoiding her calls, and she got suspicious. So, she got the police involved only to discover that her vehicle was crushed at a scrap yard.
New Jersey auto shop employees sells customer’s car to scrap yard
Having a vehicle repaired by mechanics went horribly wrong for one woman in New Jersey. She left the vehicle in the hands of a Bloomingdale auto shop. However, she never got it back.
The woman spent months trying to contact the shop to retrieve it. Eventually, she was tired of waiting and reported the vehicle missing to the police.
Investigators tracked the car to a private company that crushed and scrapped it. According to New Jersey News 12, an employee at the mechanic shop pretended to be the owner of the vehicle.
The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Maribel Pena-Matos, impersonated the owner and unlawfully sold it to the scrap yard to make some extra cash. It’s unclear how much money she got. Unfortunately, the vehicle wasn’t located in time.
The scrap yard shares that the vehicle was already crushed and transported to an out-of-state facility by the time officers arrived. Penas-Matos faces charges for impersonation and motor vehicle theft.
Now the owner has answers at least. However, she’s left without a vehicle and now has to deal with insurance companies. This might make a good chase for going to technicians at a dealership instead of mechanic shops.
Despite possibly costing a little more, could turn out to be a more reliable and trustworthy source. No one wants to find out that their car was stolen and scrapped instead of repaired.
