DENVER—An indictment by a state grand jury alleges a Grand Junction auto dealer sold vehicles determined to be “total losses” to unsuspecting buyers without telling them how damaged the vehicles were.
Named in the indictment is 66-year-old Camden P. Fortney III, owner of Camden Motors.
The alleged scheme ran from 2005 through 2008 and involved 52 vehicles.
The indictment says Fortney regularly bought wrecked vehicles, repaired them and sold them, understating the extent of the previous damage. It also says he told some buyers the vehicles still had a full factory warranty, when such warranties on vehicles declared a total loss usually are void.
Besides theft, Fortney was indicted on commercial bribery and conspiracy to commit commercial bribery for bribes allegedly paid to two insurance adjusters: Terry R. Robinson, 48, an independent adjuster in Grand Junction who did work for Colorado Casualty Insurance Co., and Mary Cross, 48, who also worked for Colorado Casualty Insurance.
Robinson and Cross were indicted on multiple counts of commercial bribery. It was not immediately known if any of the three had an attorney.
According to the grand jury, Robinson and Cross would refer total-loss or salvage vehicles to Fortney. In return for money and gifts from Fortney, the two would send him “clean titles” rather than “salvage titles,” which allowed Fortney to get more money for the vehicles on resale.
Authorities say the scheme was uncovered last year after Colorado Casualty Insurance was acquired by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Fortney allegedly sent an e-mail to the woman hired by Liberty Mutual to replace Cross, trying to recruit her into the scheme.
According to the Colorado attorney general’s office, Colorado Casualty Insurance paid more than $500,000 to buy back the 52 cars sold by Fortney and involved in the scheme.
