An Alberta couple are the latest victims of vehicle theft. They bought a stolen truck that was subsequently seized by police.
“We were in shock,” Herminia Casanova told Global News.
Casanova and partner, Yhon Linares, live in Medicine Hat. Back in July, they saw a posting for a 2022 Dodge Ram 3500 truck on social media. They travelled to Calgary to meet with the private seller and everything went well, except for the asking price.
“The original price was $62,500,” Linares said.
The couple said due to extensive cosmetic damage and the fact the truck was no longer under warranty — thanks to what they told were “after-market modifications” — they were able to negotiate a lower price of $48,500.
“We went to a shop for an inspection, to make sure the truck was ok,” Casanova said.
“We checked the VIN number on the dash. We checked the VIN by the door. We checked registration and the licence plate — it all matched,” Linares said.
But the topper, said the couple, was that the seller spent hours with them, let them drive the truck without her and finally let them take the truck with her licence plate home to Medicine Hat, even though they still had to send her a large part of the purchase price.
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“Nobody does that right? That’s a good person,” Casanova said.
The payment was completed the next day, and a few days later the couple said they took the truck to a local dealership to get it checked out and a new key cut.
That’s when the trouble started, according to Linares.
“Suddenly a whole bunch of people start running towards the truck, looking into the engine and they were crawling underneath (the truck) taking pictures.”
Unaware of what was going on, Linares started to ask questions.
“Your truck, it may be a stolen truck,” the mechanic told them.
Police were called and the truck was seized immediately. The investigation was eventually turned over to Calgary Police.
Global News reached out to Calgary Police to find out the status of the investigation and was told the case still open.
A spokesperson said, “Regarding the funds lost, unfortunately, that would be civil matter and police wouldn’t be involved with that part. It would be similar with any other possible fraud case.”
The couple has contacted a lawyer and said they’ve been told it could cost them thousands of dollars to take the seller to court.
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