A North Carolina man, Francis Marimo, will spend 18 months in prison for his role in odometer fraud. Marimo was sentenced on Friday by U.S. District Court Judge Louise Wood Flanagan in New Bern, N.C., and will also spend one year of supervised release and pay $190,845 in restitution.
In June, Marimo pleaded guilty to two counts of odometer tampering. According to the Information filed in the case, from 2008 through 2012, Marimo purchased used vehicles primarily through online advertisements, then replaced the existing odometers with odometers showing lower mileages. Marimo sold these vehicles to consumers in the Raleigh, N.C., area while representing the low mileages on the replacement odometers as accurate. Mileage for one of the vehicles was “rolled back” more than 100,000 miles. As part of a plea bargain, Marimo agreed that his conduct had caused between $120,000 and $200,000 in losses to consumers.
“The importance of accurate mileage readings on used car odometers cannot be overstated,” said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina Thomas G. Walker. “This case demonstrates our determination to protect the consumer from this type of fraud.”
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