Las Cruces Police have arrested a man suspected of creating a false vehicle title and assuming ownership of a travel trailer.
Joe Edward “Eddie” Sellers Jr., 48, is charged with four counts of fraud, three counts of making a false affidavit, three counts of forgery, three counts of conspiracy, and one count each of embezzlement of a motor vehicle and improper sale, disposal, removal or concealing encumbered property.
Las Cruces Police detectives learned that in April 2013, the woman who owned a 2011 Keystone Springdale travel trailer agreed to sell it to Sellers for $10,000. Sellers took possession of the trailer and gave the woman a check for a down payment, but that check was returned for non-sufficient funds. The woman’s credit union retained title of the trailer as lienholder since she had originally obtained a loan for the trailer.
Over the course of the next few months, Sellers is accused to providing the woman with several excuses why he could not return the trailer.
Meanwhile, detectives learned, Sellers created a fictitious power of attorney and a fake release of lien and bill of sale which he presented to a local MVD Express in July 2013 to obtain a title for the trailer in his name.
Detectives believe Sellers then agreed to sell the trailer to someone else who paid $10,000 for it. The new buyer was unable to get the trailer registered in his name so he filed a civil lawsuit against Sellers. The buyer won a default judgment against Sellers in April 2014 but never received reimbursement for his $10,000.
Meanwhile, the rightful owner of the trailer finally paid off her loan and received a release of lien on the trailer from her credit union in January 2015. The owner tried to sell the trailer to yet another person who was unable to register it in her name since Sellers had already, illegally, obtained a new title. It was at that time the rightful owner called Las Cruces Police.
Sellers was arrested Monday morning and booked into the Dona Ana County Detention Center with a cash-only bond set at $10,000.
Information from Las Cruces Police