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Published on Saturday, February 1, 2003
in the Palm Beach Post
PALM BEACH GARDENS -- A father and son believed to have tricked about 100 unsuspecting car buyers in Palm Beach and Martin counties by turning back odometers were charged Friday with organized scheme to defraud, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
Albino Rende, 72, of 6 Dorchester Circle, and Raymond Rende, 33, of 120 Thornton Drive, would buy high mileage cars and reduce the recorded mileage by as much as 100,000 miles so they could resell them at fat profits to buyers who came to their homes, troopers said.
The Rendes are also charged with odometer fraud, title fraud, sales tax fraud and petty theft. They were being held in the Palm Beach County jail Friday afternoon on $53,000 bail each.
FHP investigators said both men denied doing anything wrong.
Tom Lenart said he lived in Stuart when he bought a 1987 Toyota Cressida showing 29,000 miles from Raymond Rende more than a year ago.
"He told me his mother had died and never really used the car," Lenart said. "Right away, the compassion factor cut in. I should have known better, and later I found the car actually had 129,000 miles on it. I've put thousands of dollars of repairs into it."
Palm Beach County sheriff's Lt. Ken Deischer, head of the county's Auto Theft Task Force, said: "This is the biggest case of its type we have had in some time. Who knows how many more (victims) will pop up."
The year-long investigation began when Trooper Michael Oporto told fellow officers that he had sold his 1991 Honda Accord with 133,000 miles to Raymond Rende for $3,500.
When Cpl. Anthony Caserta Jr. checked state records, he discovered Rende had resold the car for $5,700 with a recorded mileage of 33,000.
The investigation was complicated by the fact that most of those who bought cars from the Rendes understated the sales prices to the county tax collector's office so they would pay less sales tax, Caserta said.
However, in the 11 cases brought so far against the Rendes, the Office of Statewide Prosecutor for the Attorney General's Office promised those who bought the cars with false odometers that they wouldn't be charged with sales tax fraud if they would testify against the Rendes.
They will have to pay whatever sales tax they owe, Caserta said.
Albino Rende told investigators he is a fully disabled military veteran, and his son said he was an ex-golf pro and competes in long ball driving contests.
When Caserta arrested the Rendes Friday at the father's home, the officer was there supposedly to buy a 1992 Honda Accord that had a fictitious mileage of 28,126, but had actually been purchased the week before by the Rendes with 93,000 miles on it, Caserta said.
Caserta had some advice for people buying vehicles through advertisements or at curbside: ''It's strictly buyer beware. You could even be buying a stolen car with a false (vehicle identification number), and we could later be knocking at your door and taking the car. It's best to know the person and the history of the car. Otherwise, it's a shot in the dark.''
Anyone with information in the cases is asked to call the FHP at 683-4646, extension 2400.