Scammer Alert
 

I got taken even though I thought I was being careful. There was an add for a pair of rebuilt Holley 4223's on EBay. They were advertised by someone called HotRod62554 who had a 100% rating with just under a hundred transactions.

The auction expired with no sale so I emailed the seller with a purchase offer which was accepted. The first red flag that I ignored was that the seller didn't accept PayPal. Anyway, I had my bank send a cashiers check. I didn't hear a word from the seller for almost a month (even though I'd sent numerous email inquires). Then, last Saturday, FedEx delivered a box. I opened it and there were two shinny Holleys... one of which had a broken throttle plate.

When I examined the carbs more closely, the unbroken throttle plate was so sticky I could't believe it. It looked like someone had "cleaned" the carbs with a sand blaster (bad enough) and not done any clean up of the debris. These carbs are junk, net even usable for parts.

The seller goes by at least 3 names that I can track down, [email protected], [email protected], and Alice Sleth of Decatur, Il.

Beware, don't take the bait like I did.

Alice and Michael Sleeth- Again

Do a forum search and prepare to read for a while- I have posted on them a couple times.

They are members of the RJ Scammer Forum Hall of Fame.

Sounds like your transaction was Ebay- and they will give you NO protection-trust me on that. Your only choice is probably litigation in local courts as the issue is not that a product wasnt sent-but that it was not as described.

Honestly, it wont be worth your time or money to sue, so unless its principle and you are dedicated write it off.

Scorp

I should have known better. You're right, it was an EBay deal. I just wanted the folks here to be aware of the scam.

The curious thing to me is how they had such a long string of positive feedback on EBay. Is there some way that can be corrupted?

well they probably sell the "good stuff" on ebay and like in your case after the auction they just got your money and threw some junk carbs in a box. no auction, no feedback. I have heard of them on here too, shame, I live about an hour north of Decatur...

Check the items that are positive. Are they things like cheap glassware, trading cards, cheap stuff like that, that allows them to sell cheap, place in an envelope cheap and get the positive feedback so they can scam people like yourself on the big dollar stuff.

Now heres the Deal- The Sleeths were arrested and they are I believe in the Illinios area-so if you were really inclined-you might find the article informing of their arrest (was it decatur Illinois?). Find the arresting office and tell him what happened and that they have a new spin on their scam. I think Tom (Topsportsman1) posted the link months ago to the article on their arrest.

Might be like placing a big tack on Michael and Alice's chair.

Thats what I would do.

But its all about how far you are willing to go.

Up for the challenge?

Scorp

Wise words Scorp. I like the idea of using the past skeletons in the closet to leverage them now. If it is one thing, they don't want thier past to keep rearing it's ugly head...

Great suggestion. I do have an address for them in Decatur, but I think it's a drop box at a Mail Boxes Etc. or something like that. Anyway, I can contact the Decatur PD and see if anyone there can help.

Just an FYI-She's on Reunion.com. (Yup old Alice Sleeth) Even the Scammers can't stay away from the Social networking sites- Might grab all sorts of info there.

The Scammers typically put the "S" in stupid, so they can be easy to break if you are dedicated. :D

Scorp

I found the previous post:

http://forums.racingjunk.com/viewtop...ghlight=sleeth

there may be some more info on there that will help you out. If you need any help finding address's I have a few business acoount in that area that may be able to look stuff up.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've sent an email to the Decatur, Il Police Department with the basic background. I don't know if they'll get back to me but if/when they do I'll let everyone know what the scoop is.

I haven't had any reply from the Decatur police, but (all of a sudden) I've been getting emails from the Sleeths. They seem to be trying to turn the responsibility back onto me. Not to worry, I'm not biting. I told Sleeth that if he refunded my money I'd be happy to return his carburetors, inform the police that he had made a refund, and even post to RJ that he had done so. Otherwise I was holding them as evidence. He wants me to send him the carbs so he can look at them. Fat chance of that! He knew what kind of shape they were in when he shipped them. Screw me once, shame on you. Screw me twice, shame on me.

Seems the Sleeths follow the scammer forum. No surprise since they are in the hall of shame. You will find their carb sdd lurking on here somewhere, typically with a nice checkered flag in the background- racy huh?

Keep your foot on their throat, and when you get what is rightfully yours- press down anyway.

Wonder if being back to their old antics violates a probabtion before judgement ruling- Press forward with the Decatur police.

Scorp

I don't have any idea what the Decatur police will do (if anything), but I won't be duped by the Sleeths again. I know any police department in todays world has a limited amount of resources and when you have murderers and rapists, armed robbers and burglers running loose, internet fraud investigation takes a back seat.

If the Sleeths do refund my money (very doubtful), I really will contact the Decatur police and inform them that they stepped up to the plate and did what was right. I'm thinking that isn't too likely to happen though.

I'd like to post a photo of the carbs they advertised and also the ones they sent for all to see, but I can't figure out how to upload it to the forum. Any guidence?

http://forums.racingjunk.com/viewtopic.php?t=2876

Thanks for the help. I'll try to get some photos up yoday or tomorrow.

Just got another email from Sleeth. He still wants me to ship the carbs to him so he can look at them. I replied that he packed them for shippment and couldn't possibly have not known they were full of grit from blasting and that the throttle blates were binding. As far as I'm concerned he's already looked at them and shipped them anyway knowing fullwell that they were junk.

Oh, he also said he was going to check out RJ when he got a chance to see what new lies have been posted about him. Great stuff, huh?

A little Help for the Sleeth's
 

This should help the Sleeth's when they visit this thread-

Heres the content article in the paper from Decatur Illinois:

Reported by: Stacey Morgan / WCIA 3 News
Thursday, Dec 6, 2007 @05:35pm CST

view largerMichael and Alice Sleeth of Oreana are facing charges of theft and Internet fraud. Authorities say they scammed more than $6000 out of on-line shoppers since 2002.

Authorities say the Sleeths posted carburetors and other car parts for sale on online auction sites like EBay and RacingJunk.com.

They say the couple would collect money from winning bidders, then send them the wrong auction item., or not send anything at all. Some items were sent in conditions other than what was described in the ad..

Authorities say this is just another example of why it's improtant to protect yourself online. They say one good rule of thumb is to get to know your seller.

"When you make a purchase on the internet, on auction websites, you may want to talk to the person you are ordering from by email, or phone," says Detective Jason Brown, who worked on the case. "Gather as much info as you can. Ask to speak with people they sold to previously. Try to do some background investigation so you don't lost your money in the transaction."

Brown also suggests you stick with sellers who have a strong history of honest sales. And make sure the site is secure if you need to use your credit card for a transaction. That will protect your accounts and your identity from being compromised.
Comment on this news story

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Scorp

Re: A little Help for the Sleeth's
 

I forwarded your post to Sleeth. That should get his attention but I doubt if it will.

Oh, he emailed me telling me that he needed to charge me a $100 restocking fee to return the carbs. Big chance that'll happen.

Re: A little Help for the Sleeth's
 

[/quote]Oh, he emailed me telling me that he needed to charge me a $100 restocking fee to return the carbs. Big chance that'll happen.[/quote]


:shock: :shock: :shock:
What a piece of work. Wanting to charge restocking on defective material?? He should be put in jail or have a good old fashion whooping.
Dave

He thinks I want to get my money back and keep the carburetors. I've already told him the only reason I'm keeping the carburetors right now is for evidence. They won't do a racer any good. Actually, I guess you could use them on a display engine. Too bad I don't have any of those... All my motors are in my race car and car hauler waiting to be run.

Send them to him COD.

Invesntory the box, take pictures and get a notarized statement from a witness attesting to what was placed in the box and sealed. Get the witness to accompany you to UPS- then ship COD.

He has carbs, you have cash and there is a witness to keep everything straight.

Tell him that you will pay the $100 restocking fee if he pays your $100 handling and shipping expense.

Scorp

Or better yet- offer to send them to detective Jason Brown- the investigating officer the last time he was accused of scamming. Tell him you will ask detective Brown to bring them to him and pick up your cash.

I am sure he will be ok with that since they are acquainted.

Scorp

Scorp, you have some great suggestions. I just finished an email to Sleeth with the options. I wonder if he'll accept? I'm not holding my breath.

Hey Superstreet2055
 

Send him a box full of dogS#it and tell him after he recieves and opens it up that he should be able to get as much use out of that as you did with the carbs he sent you. :shock: :twisted:

Re: Hey Superstreet2055
 

Tempting as your suggestion is, it probably wouldn't do my case with the police against them any good.

I did make the COD offer suggested by Scorp and I thought it might promped some kind of response from the Sleeths, especially since he'd offered to refund 75% of my money (less all shipping costs of course, in the name of a "restocking" fee) but it seems I've called his bluff. Haven't had a single word from him since I sent the offer.

I guess that tells me what kind of intentions of refunding my money after receiving the carbs was.

Re: Hey Superstreet2055
 

Tell him COD or that you will notify Detective Brown - Nothing like prosecuting a guy, hearing all the whining about how he is a changed man and then he goes and does it again.

You also need to check the online court records to see if he got probabtion in leiu of jail time- if so then what he did to you could be a probation violation and land him in court and perhaps jail.

Check the online court records in Decatur and his province- Armed with that knowledge tell him simply- You will refund my money, no handling charge. I will return your junk- If you dont you will notify the court of your probation violation.

I am telling you- you are only a few inches from him peeing in his pants and returning your money- you need more info and then you need to press him.

Scorp

I'll see if I can track down any records. Not sure where to start, but one thing should lead to another. Appreciate the thoughts.

It's funny (curious, not ha ha), I've been buying and selling parts via the internet for over a decade and this is the first really negative experience I've had.

State records

http://www.courtreference.com/Illinois-Courts.htm

People finder

http://www.intelius.com/search-summa...ab4ab9757b640b

Go to Line 7 michael and Alice and some other family members- Go get them!

Name Age P revious Cities DOB P hone Address Avg. Income Avg. Home Value Relatives

1 Michael R Sleeth

View Details
54 Bridgeport, WV (2)
Stonewood, WV (1) Richard Michael Sleeth
R M Sleeth
Jason Sleeth
Debra L Sleeth
Debby L Sleeth
Mike Sleeth

2 Michael W Sleeth

View Details
56 Ozark, MO (1)
Willard, MO (2)
Springfield, MO (3) Rebecca J Sleeth
Walter Michael Sleeth
Mike W Sleeth
Susan A Sleeth
Anthony M Sleeth
Marie T Sleeth
Tony Sleeth
Harold Sleeth
Matt A Sleeth

3 Michael Robert Sleeth

View Details
43 Albuquerque, NM (2)
New Braunfels, TX (2)
Darien, IL (1)
Rio Rancho, NM (2) Karla K Sleeth
Pamela J Sleeth
Frances A Sleeth
Fran A Sleeth
Janie M Sleeth
Robert G Sleeth
Kelli Sleeth
James Gary Sleeth
Kathleen S Sleeth

4 Michael J Sleeth

View Details
47 Des Moines, IA (7)
Toledo, OH (1) Teresa L Sleeth
Mike J Sleeth
Justin Michael Sleeth
Paul W Sleeth
Cory Sleeth
Brigitte A Sleeth
Gilbert Z Sleeth
Monika Barbara Sleeth

5 Michael Sleeth

View Details
42 Jackson, MO (1)
Carlyle, IL (1)
Belleville, IL (1)
Hoffman, IL (3) Renae L Sleeth
Richard Michael Sleeth
Mike R Sleeth
R M Sleeth

6 Michael Joel Sleeth

View Details
60 Belton, TX (3) Patricia Lynn Sleeth
Mike E Sleeth
Heather Lynn Sleeth
Matthew Brian Sleeth

7 Michael P Sleeth

View Details
60 Oreana, IL (2)
Decatur, IL (3)
Clinton, IL (1) Alice R Sleeth
Cynthia R Sleeth
Gregory C Sleeth
A Sleeth

Drag the whole family into this- I am going to tell you, you need to do this- Read my scammer post sticky'ed above on the forum.

It wasnt until I spoke to my Scammers dad and little brother that he started to cave.

Scorp

superstreet,
If you can get him to commit to a "decent" refund, tell him you will have someone bring him the carbs in person. If you were interested you could ship them to me and I would gladly go to this guys door to get your refund and mail it to you. Something to think about and I am a small guy but I do have some really big and scary looking biker buddies that would easily ride along with me. I live about 45 minutes from Decatur so its no big deal for me to drive down and back. If you are interested just PM me and I will help any way I can.

Just heard from Sleeth. He's asking me for commitments now. I'm thinkin' that's a good sign (he's sweating now), but I believe that he's just searching for a way to trip me up and get out of the situation. I really believe this guy is a criminal and even if I do ship the carbs to him COD, he'll make some kind of claim that I've done something to the carbs to ruin them just to get my money back.

At this point, I believe I'm going to pack the carburetors up and send them to Patrick James (Pro Systems) for an itemized evaluation of their condition. At the very least they'll both need new throttle plate assemblies and brobably metering blocks. It's hard to believe that sand blasting hasn't ruined them. If he felt the need to abrasive blast carburetor parts he should have known to use baking soda (even that isn't real smart). Anyway, the results, along with the original ad, and the entire email string will then be forwarded to his probation officer. His current activities are almost certainly a violation of any probation conditions.

I've gotten to the point where I'd rather eat the monetary loss and let his probation officer take care of things.

After you notify his probation officer, send him a soap on a rope with a little carb stamped in the soap.

Scorp

Scorp, your suggestions always make the situation a little easier to tolerate.

BEWARE! Sleeth has a 69 items for sale on EBay listed under the name USACONSIGNMENTS. This time he has a 100% feedback rating with 67 items. I really don't know how he keeps hacking their system with new names and feedback ratings, but beware.

If you look close you will see that all those feedbacks are where he bought from someone else , not a one is where he sold to someone

How is your progress in chasing him? Could you give us an update of what you can legally share?

Scorp

he and wife took me for 7,000 on Sunday Gary 847-483-0860