Car Buying Couple Pleads Guilty To Online Scam

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — Grand Theft Auto was off the table after a couple pleaded guilty to what prosecutors call an "unusual scam." On Tuesday, Christopher John Gauley, 34, and Kristina Marie Hall, 32, pleaded guilty to orchestrating an identity theft scheme in Orange County in which they purchased cars through online auctions and sold them to unwitting customers. Gauley was sentenced to six years in prison and Hall was sentenced to one year and four months behind bars, according to Deputy District Attorney Dan Hess, who called it "an unusual scam."

The two managed to obtain boxes of client lists from a car dealer in Garden Grove and from motels in the county to steal identities that were used to obtain cars through online auctions, Hess said. They would turn around and sell the cars through online classified ads to unsuspecting customers for cash "at a very discounted price," he said.

The defendants were arrested in February 2017, but Gauley bailed out a month later and Hall posted bail in April of last year.

While out of custody, they illegally acquired three vehicles between August and November last year, according to Tustin police investigator Jeff Singleton.

The two were arrested again earlier this month.

"It was like `Groundhog Day.' They just kept doing the same exact thing," Hess said.

In all, 17 cars were stolen in the scam, the prosecutor said.

The two did not have a fixed address.

"They were motel hopping, living out of suitcases," Hess said.

Hall wrote in a notebook that contained personal identifying information of others that the pair needed money as soon as possible, Singleton said.

"We need a car ASAP and we need to get our passports (no joke) ASAP," Hall wrote. "Like I said, I'm not willing to live without you at this point or any other point in our life. I think having passports on the ready just in case would be very smart as a last resort."

Gauley "was able to produce over 50 different California driver's licenses with his picture on it," Hess said.

City News Service, with Ashley Ludwig, Patch Editor

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