An Eastern Washington man is accused of buying used cars and then selling them with odometers that showed lower mileage — in some cases more than 100,000 fewer miles.
Reynaldo Valdez Garza Jr., of Othello, 52, is charged in federal court with five counts of odometer tampering, including on a Ford F-150 he sold on behalf of Cars 4 Less Auto Sales in Kennewick.
There is no indication in court documents that the Tri-Cities business knew of the alleged fraud.
A grand jury indicted Garza Sept. 4, but court records were sealed until after his arrest.
Garza previously was employed by a used car business and used that experience to begin purchasing and selling cars, according to court records.
He often would buy vehicles and parts, including odometers, from Spalding Auto Parts, a junkyard for totaled vehicles near Spokane, Wash.
He would switch out the vehicles' original odometers to increase the sales price for cars he sold, sometimes on Facebook Marketplace with the price and purported mileage of the vehicle listed, according to a court document
On making a sale he would often promise to finalize the bill of sale paperwork, according to a court document. When the buyer signed their section, he would fill in the seller's portion of the document with different mileage information than he had told the buyer, according to court documents.
Odometers allegedly switched
The five charges include these federal court allegations about five cars and pickups he sold:
— In late October 2023 Garza contacted Cars 4 Less Auto Sales and said he could sell a 2012 Ford F-150 it had to one of his customers.
The odometer read 259,731 miles, but Garza is accused of changing it out to show that it had 129,930 miles.
Garza sold the pickup on behalf of Cars 4 Less for $14,000, according to court documents.
— In August 2023, Garza bought a 2007 GMC Acadia with 186,923 miles for $500.
He replaced its odometer with one that read 118,000 miles and sold the SUV for $5,000, according to a court document.
— In June 2023, Garza bought a 2010 Ford Edge with about 230,000 miles for $4,000.
He advertised it on Facebook Marketplace for $8,000.
He then met a buyer at their residence and sold the SUV for $6,500. It had an odometer then that said it had been driven 115,000 miles, according to a court document.
— In August 2023 Garza and his spouse bought a 2006 Toyota Sienna minivan with 252,871 miles for4 $2,700.
He sold it for $5,600 with a replaced odometer that said it had been driven about 129,000 miles, according to a court document.
— In February 2024, Garza bought a 2007 Lexus IS-250 sedan with an odometer reading of 214,469 miles. He also bought an instrument cluster form a totaled Lexus with mileage of about 142,000 miles, according to a court document.
When he was interviewed by law enforcement in March, he said he planned to sell the Lexus, which then showed mileage of about 144,000 miles, for $6,000, according to a court document.
"The purchase of a vehicle is often one of the largest financial commitments people make," said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref of the Eastern Washington District. "It is important that buyers have confidence in the information they receive when deciding which vehicle to purchase."
The maximum sentence for each charge of odometer tampering is three years in prison.
This case was investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Adams County Sheriff's Office. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Devin Curda. Garza is represented by Douglas D. Phelps of Spokane.
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