Man Sentenced For Odometer Tampering Auto Dealer Gets 21 Months For Conspiracy, Mail Fraud

A Spokane man is serving a 21-month federal prison sentence after being convicted of rolling back odometers on used cars and trucks.

David B. Cecie, 34, formerly of Corona, Calif., received the sentence in Los Angeles after pleading guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and odometer tampering.

Four others, including Cecie’s wife, were involved in the scheme that lasted from 1991 to 1995.

Federal prosecutors say it cost consumers in California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and Hawaii an estimated $500,000.

Cecie’s wife, Wanda Bodner Cecie, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of odometer tampering and was sentenced to four months of home detention.

The couple, now living in Nine Mile Falls, has two small children.

The sentences were imposed last month in Los Angeles.

Justice Department prosecutor Linda Smith said Wednesday that David Cecie made wholesale purchases of used cars, frequently at auctions, and would resell them to retail dealers.

He admitted involvement in odometer tampering with at least 130 cars, Smith said.

He would buy high-mileage cars in one market and sell them to dealers elsewhere after the odometers were rolled back, the prosecutor said.

Cecie admitted buying a 1991 Chevrolet truck at an auto auction in Riverside, Calif., court documents say.

When he bought the truck, it had 170,074 miles on its odometer, the documents say. A few weeks later, when he sold the truck to a retail dealer in Downey, Calif., the pickup’s odometer registered 48,176, the documents say.

Three others also were convicted in the California odometer rollback case that was investigated by the Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Litigation.

The case involved as many as 400 cars whose mileages were reduced, Smith said.

Consumers who bought the cars and trucks paid an average of $4,000 more for the vehicles than they were really worth, the prosecutor said.

David Cecie became a licensed auto dealer after moving to the Spokane area.

“There are no allegations that he was involved in odometer rollbacks up there,” said Smith.

, DataTimes