Car Salesman Caught on Hidden Camera Committing Odometer Fraud Faces Prison

A Woodland Hills man is set to be sentenced today for rolling back vehicle odometers in a three-year scheme in which people paid up to $400 to avoid penalties for exceeding mileage limits on leases or to increase auto trade-in values.

Jeffrey Levy, 62, a former salesman at Galpin Ford in North Hills, faces up to three years in federal prison and as much as $1 million in fines, according to the U.S. Justice Department. However, prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of no more than two years, restitution of $115,800, and a period of supervised release, court papers show.

Federal prosecutors are also seeking to have U.S. District Judge George H. King order that Levy be prohibited from employment related to the purchase, sale, leasing, or financing of new of used motor vehicles during the supervised release period.

A co-defendant, Shamai Salpeter, 65, previously pleaded guilty and is expected to be sentenced April 13.

Both men pleaded to conspiracy to commit odometer tampering.

While working at the dealership, Levy referred customers, including friends, to Salpeter, federal prosecutors said. Salpeter charged $100 to $400 to roll back the odometer readings, which he did using electronic tools in the driveway of his Woodland Hills home.

Levy then accepted the vehicles for lease returns or trade-ins without alerting the dealership, “thus defrauding future owners of the vehicles,” according to the DOJ.

Galpin Ford cooperated in the investigation, prosecutors said.

“Victims of odometer fraud lose thousands of dollars on what can turn out to be unreliable and potentially dangerous vehicles,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s civil division.

Salpeter was the subject of a 2012 hidden-camera investigation of odometer fraud by CBS2.

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