Othello Man Federally Indicted in Odometer Fraud Case

An Othello man made his first appearance in federal court on Monday.

On Sept. 4, a federal grand jury indicted Reynaldo Valdez Garza Jr. on five counts of odometer tampering.

According to the indictment, Garza cooked up a duplicitous scheme in the spring of 2023. He sold well-worn high-mileage cars at fantastically inflated prices. Before bringing a vehicle to market, Garza would roll back the odometer, sometimes as much as 100,000 miles. His buyers didn't - couldn't - suspect that anything was amiss.

This is all too common, says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In a given year, nearly a half-million vehicles with compromised odometers are pawned off on oblivious buyers.

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Odometer fraud costs consumers almost $1 billion annually.

"It takes con artists a matter of minutes to wipe thousands and thousands of miles off a vehicle's odometer," reports Carfax. "And unfortunately, some swindlers likely see this unprecedented used car market as a way to make a quick buck." (The Carfax post includes tips on self-protection and fraud avoidance.)

"In some instances," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Eastern Washington, "Gaza would wait for the buyer to sign their section of the Bill of Sale paperwork, then fill in the 'seller' section with different information than what was represented to the buyer regarding the identity of the seller and mileage."

If convicted, Garza faces steep fines and up to three years in prison.

The Adams County Sheriff's Office investigated the case in conjunction with the NHTSA, which maintains an odometer fraud hotline (800-424-9393). The attending prosecutor here is Assistant U.S. Attorney Devin Curda.