Three people were arrested Wednesday for allegedly conducting fraudulent online auto-parts sales out of their Manheim Township home.
State police charged Edwin Aloysius Sanders V, 24; his brother, Robert Andrew Sanders, 20; and Keshia Marie Otto, 21, all of 423 Amesbury Road, with theft by deception, running a corrupt organization, receiving stolen property and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, all felonies.
They were to be arraigned Wednesday evening.
Police said the three operated businesses known as foreignfindsonline.com and Z Corp. and sold items through online auction sites such as eBay.
Trooper Chad Roberts of the Central PA Auto Theft Task Force said the trio sold parts for "fast and furious" sports cars such as the Mitsubishi Eclipse and Dodge Talon, advertising the parts inaccurately as new or reconditioned.
"They were portraying nice working parts, but when they arrived, they were anything but that," Roberts said Wednesday afternoon. "Sometimes they weren't even the right parts, and sometimes the parts never arrived at all."
According to Roberts, police became aware of potentially fraudulent activity about two years ago. To date, three victims have been identified: Joseph Moody of Raleigh, N.C., Central Transport Co. of York and Adrienne Bogdon of Carbondale.
Roberts said Moody purchased an engine from the company but it never arrived, so the North Carolina man attempted to track down the firm's owners. He gave police the contact information he had on the company. "We received a fax from Orange County, N.C., and one of the names had matched the name of a suspect in a 2004 burglary," Roberts said. "That's when we really started to look at this person and put things together."
Roberts said the three utilized a storage facility in Lebanon, where police said they found Bogdon's stolen vehicle in October 2007. Bogdon had hired foreignfindsonline.com to repair her vehicle, but the company never returned it, Roberts said.
Officials have not said how much business the Sanders brothers and Otto transacted, nor put a dollar figure on the alleged fraud, but believe there were more than three victims.
"We're pretty sure there are other people out there who are victims in this scam and we encourage them to contact us," Roberts said. Victims may call state police Ephrata barracks at 721-7667.
During a search of the Amesbury Road residence, police allegedly found drugs and drug paraphernalia, for which charges will be forthcoming, Roberts said.
The investigation was a joint effort of the Central PA Auto Theft Task Force — a collaboration between state and local forces — and Manheim Township police.
E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com