The owner of a Springfield-based towing company was sentenced Oct. 6 for mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering in federal court, according to the United States Attorney's Office in the Western District of Missouri, which was part of a scheme to get titles and liens for stolen vehicles.
Affordable Towing owner Dennis Arthur Cleveland, 76, was sentenced to a total of 153 months incarceration, followed by three years of post-release supervision, and was ordered to pay a $300 special assessment, $37,049 to victims and to forfeit the same amount, as well as paying $400,000 in fines.
Cleveland had pleaded guilty in December.
“Government records and title systems exist to establish legitimate ownership, not to provide an easy way
for criminals to turn stolen vehicles into profit,” said R. Matthew Price, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri. “The defendant didn’t simply commit a harmless paperwork offense; he manipulated records for personal greed. Today’s sentence makes it clear that those who try to defraud government processes at any level in the Western District of Missouri, will be held accountable and aggressively prosecuted.”
Cleveland had directed his Affordable Towing employees to send fraudulent documents to the Missouri Department of Revenue, according to the news release, in order to obtain substitute or replacement mechanic's liens and vehicle titles that would allow for the sale of vehicles. Documents in each instance claimed Cleveland's business received permission from the vehicles' owners; however, signatures on the paperwork were forged.
According to the news release, when Cleveland could get a replacement lien or title, he would sell the vehicle at a used car dealership. When he couldn't get a replacement title or mechanics lien, he would send the vehicle to a scrapyard. Either way, the news release said, Cleveland took all proceeds for himself, which totaled several million dollars.
All the vehicles involved in this scheme were confirmed to have been reported stolen and neither Cleveland nor Affordable Towing had permission to possess, sell or scrap any of these vehicles.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Ozarks towing company's owner sentenced in stolen vehicle scheme
