Auto Repairman Charged With Theft of Vintage Cars

When you drop your car off for repairs, you generally expect to get it back afterwards. That’s something that should go without saying, and yet a recent case in Texas illustrates just what happens when such a basic principle of automotive repair goes terribly wrong. Did we mention that there are criminal charges involved, with the potential of more on the way?

As reported by Bryce Newberry of KPRC 2, Galveston County police arrested a man named Richard Finley last week after searching a storage space. Finley is, by trade, an auto repairman specializing in vintage cars — and, according to reports, plenty of car owners trusted him with their vehicles over the years. Things got a little more troubling when it came time to give the vehicles back to their owners — as apparently, this did not happen in every case.

One man named Trae told the station that he had taken his 1972 Camaro to Finley to have it repaired, a process that was supposed to take 12 weeks. Two years later, the repairs are still not complete. According to the report, other car owners had been unaware of their vehicles’ locations for months.

It’s Easy to Avoid the Way More and More Cars Are Being Stolen

Hint: it involves your car’s key fob

Jalopnik reports that the authorities found $2 million worth of cars and car parts at the facility. The storage space housed a total of 24 cars — the amount of which suggests that there are even more stories to be told about these repairs gone wrong.