Gazebo Gazette
Two Long Beach men plead guilty in federal court to altering odometers at a Gulfport-based car dealership. Oscar Baine and Jeffrey Savarese came forward after pleading on these crimes.
Baine owned Oscar’s Used Cars on East Pass Road in Gulfport while confessing that he bought automobiles with a lot of mileage but had these odometers changed for lower readings. The car lot owner admitted to providing Savarese and other workers money in his business to change these odometers and selling these rolled back vehicles for higher prices.
Savarese expressed that he altered up to 200 vehicles at Baine’s car lot.
Baine pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to change odometers and one count of odometer tampering. Savarese pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to alter odometers. Both will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. on Oct. 17, 2019.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation, assisted by the State of Mississippi Office of the Attorney General, investigated the case. The NHTSA estimates that odometer fraud in the U.S. results in consumer losses of more than $1 billion annually.
Individuals with information relating to odometer tampering should call NHTSA’s odometer fraud hotline at (800) 424-9393 or (202) 366-4761.
