Auto Shop Accused of Defrauding Customers
By Dana Littlefield
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 25, 2004

VISTA – An Escondido man accused of conspiring with the manager of an auto repair shop to defraud elderly customers out of thousands of dollars for unnecessary repairs was ordered to stand trial yesterday.

Superior Court Judge Joel Pressman found there was enough evidence for Rodney Dale Murphy, 55, to face five felony counts of theft by false pretenses and one count of conspiracy. Murphy faces up to five years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
During the preliminary hearing, witnesses testified that Murphy, the shop's service adviser, and Edward Morales, 37, the manager, repeatedly overcharged customers who paid for their cars to be smog-checked. The shop is now closed.

Felix Caraballo, an investigator with the state Bureau of Automotive Repair, testified that his agency sent three cars to Total Quality Motors on North Rose Street in Escondido for smog-checks. Murphy told the undercover investigators that the cars needed additional repairs.

Caraballo said investigators knew that the extra repairs were unnecessary.
Morales, who now lives in Santa Barbara County, was placed on three years probation Monday after pleading guilty to one count of theft by false pretenses. He also was ordered to pay back more than $8,820 to four of his victims.

Two auto technicians, John Hermes, 55, and Gregory Ward, 51, both of Escondido, pleaded guilty to related charges Tuesday and were placed on three years probation. A third technician, Jorge Mendoza Refugio, 26, of Escondido, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessing a computer to defraud customers.

All five men were arrested in January after a raid by the state Bureau of Automotive Repair. Bureau investigators received complaints that the business was fraudulently smog-testing, repairing and certifying vehicles that had previously failed smog tests, according to court documents.

Investigators also said employees there repeatedly lied to customers about the condition of their cars and charged them for unnecessary parts and service, according to court documents.

John Jimenez, Murphy's lawyer, argued that his client, who doesn't have any training in automotive repair, did not know the customers were being overcharged but simply passed on information from the mechanics to the customers. Therefore, there was no conspiracy, Jimenez said.

"We don't have an agreement between Mr. Murphy and Mr. Morales as evidenced by the witnesses," Jimenez argued.

Prosecutor Deborah Thomas told the judge that in the instances when undercover vehicles were taken to Total Quality Motors, Murphy told his customers they needed repairs that even a person without automotive expertise would know were unnecessary. For example, Thomas said, a radiator does not have to be replaced to pass a smog check.

"You can't just pretend he doesn't know what's going on and had no culpability," Thomas said.