Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that a Newark, man was sentenced to state prison today for carrying out a scheme in which he used false identities and nearly $340,000 in counterfeit or bad checks to buy 19 cars from an online auto auction company. Keith L. Hutcheson Jr., 27, of Newark, who formerly lived in Paulsboro, N.J., was sentenced to seven years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Christine Allen-Jackson in Gloucester County.
He pleaded guilty on April 21 to second-degree theft by deception and third-degree forgery. Hutcheson was required to enter a civil consent judgment to pay $212,000 in restitution to the auto auction company, Copart Inc. The company previously recovered a number of the vehicles, which reduced the amount of restitution owed.
The case was referred to the Attorney General’s Office by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, which received a complaint from Copart Inc., which is based in Dallas, Texas. Copart has locations throughout the U.S., including in Robbinsville and Glassboro, N.J. The state’s investigation revealed that from September through December 2013, Hutcheson used the aliases of “Mark Hooper” and “Bassem Wallace” to purchase 19 cars online from Copart.com, including seven Mercedes Benz vehicles, a Porsche and a BMW. He paid for the cars with counterfeit or bad checks totaling $339,782, including a check for $199,023 for multiple vehicles that purportedly was issued by a car dealership.
Many of the cars were salvage or storm-damaged vehicles. Hutcheson arranged for the vehicles to be transported to New Jersey, where he resold a number of them in cash sales to unsuspecting buyers. Hutcheson was arrested by detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice on May 13, 2014, on charges of theft by deception and identity theft.
Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Honig noted that the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau has established a toll-free tip line 1-866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities.