KENNETH CITY, FL -- Pinellas County Detectives arrested 45-year-old John S. Creel of Treasure Island and charged him with nine counts of odometer fraud.
Deputies say Creel, the owner of Creel Motors located at 4870 66th Street North in Kenneth City, was arrested after a citizen reported a discrepancy in the odometer reading on a vehicle he was interested in buying.
According to detectives the investigation began on November 24, 2008 when a citizen was interested in buying a 1995 Nissan Maxima with an odometer reading of 83,000 miles. The citizen took the vehicle information and ran a CARFAX vehicle history report and the report returned the actual mileage as being 161,000 miles. After further investigations detectives found eight more cases of fraud, resulting in the additional charges against Creel.
Creel was arrested on Friday morning at his dealership and then released Friday evening on 45,000 dollars bond.
Detectives are asking anyone who purchased a vehicle from Creel Motors in the last 3-months with mileage under 100,000 miles and believes to have been a victim of fraud to contact Detective Troy Compton of the Pinellas Sheriff's Arson & Auto Theft Unit at (727) 582-6200.
