From this morning's Hartford Courant:

Man Indicted In Thefts Of 4 Porsches From Dealer
August 20, 2004
By JEFFREY B. COHEN, Courant Staff Writer

NEW HAVEN -- Steven Gilligan knew something was wrong - $2,400 in cash was missing, a $135,900 Porsche was gone from the showroom floor and his business manager had cleaned out his desk.

So Gilligan, general manager of Porsche-Audi-Suzuki of Wallingford, called the police. It was Aug. 2. Just over a week later, the business manager was arrested.

And Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Jeffrey Weinhold, 27, of Meriden, on charges that he stole four Porsches totaling more than $400,000 and that he tried to transport at least two of them across state lines, the U.S. attorney's office announced.

Weinhold also is alleged to have deposited a check for $63,500 - the proceeds from the sale of one of the vehicles. The deposit is a violation of a federal money-laundering statute, the office said.

The investigation began Aug. 2 when Gilligan told Wallingford police that a 2004 Porsche 996 Turbo Cabriolet was stolen off the showroom floor, the office said.

It later became clear that three other cars also were missing: a 2004 Porsche 911 40th Anniversary Edition coupe valued at $93,320, a 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Coupe valued at $93,995 and a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo Coupe, valued at $80,496, the office said. The Turbo Coupe still is missing.

According to a court affidavit, Weinhold called the dealership on July 31 to say that he had a family emergency in Rhode Island and that he would be unable to come to work. The Cabriolet was not yet missing, according to Gilligan.

But on Aug. 2, Gilligan noticed that the car was gone, Weinhold's desk was clear of any personal belongings, and the weekend deposit bag with $2,400 in cash was missing.

Weinhold allegedly transferred ownership of some of the cars to himself so he could sell them to dealerships elsewhere. The affidavit also said Weinhold had two other men use aliases to "buy" cars from him at the dealership. The cars then would be resold, the affidavit said.

To make his scheme work, Weinhold also is alleged to have had a "virtual" Manhattan address from a company called Manhattan Business Center Inc., which offers customers "virtual offices" and the use of the Manhattan address.

Weinhold also tried to trade a 2004 Coupe and the 2004 Cabriolet for a Lamborghini Gallardo at a Missouri dealership, the affidavit said.

"This arrest and indictment could not have been made this quickly without the excellent investigative work of both the Wallingford Police and FBI," said U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor. "As a result, most of the property and more than $52,000 in alleged criminal proceeds has been recovered."

Weinhold will be arraigned Aug. 31 in federal court in Hartford. If convicted, he could face as much as 10 years in prison for each of the five counts against him and a fine of as much as $250,000 for each of the five counts.

 

Now that's what I call a "Stealer"
All kidding aside, crime does not pay....

 

How the heck did this guy think he was EVER going to get away with that? What a moron.

 

Yeah that shows that they should do an IQ test before hiring...

 

They do give a IQ test and if they score higher than a carrot they don't hire them.

 

Just shows you how stupid criminals are. I hope he has a large supply of breath mints!!! He'll need em.

 

Who steals all of that then clears their desk and wires the money to their own bank account!?! My lord they should send him to a common sense class rather than jail. My guess is that he will be pleading insanity...

 

It's obvious the guy was stupid. He wanted to trade in
a Porsche for a Lambo!

 

OK - here's my question: Four cars missing and the dealership only figured it out after the guy cleaned out his desk and disappeared? What's up with that?

 

that guy is an idiot!! Oh good job!!