A Gilbert man, Mikel Martinez, who manages Auto Link of Arizona, a used car dealership has been arrested for selling a vehicle with a false odometer reading in addition to other violations. Martinez, age 37, had recently sold a 2013 Chevrolet E2500 Cargo Van stating that it had 159,000 miles on it.
Unbeknownst to the buyer, the vehicle had actually racked up over 303,000 miles.
The buyer originally came to Arizona Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General because Martinez had not provided the title or registration for the van. Martinez had also informed her that she was being financed through BHFC Financial Services; however, when the buyer contacted the company, it had no record of her.
ADOT’s Office of Inspector General took up the case and opened an investigation that led detectives to discover that the vehicle mileage on the title had been altered from when it was first titled to Auto Link of Arizona.
When Martinez was called in to Arizona Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General headquarters regarding the odometer tampering, detectives discovered that in addition to altering the mileage, Martinez removed the letter “C” designation on the vehicle’s title. A letter “C” indicates the true mileage of the vehicle is unknown. It was also discovered that he had a fictitious dealer plate on his vehicle that was made of laminated paper.
Martinez was arrested and booked at the Fourth Avenue Jail on Sept. 21 and is currently facing counts of fraudulent schemes, forgery, tampering with a public record, displaying a fictitious plate and odometer fraud.