Edward Scott Rock, a Philadelphia used car dealer, was arrested last week by federal authorities on charges of mail and wire fraud. Rock is accused of accepting payments from around 120 buyers across 36 states but failing to deliver a vehicle. Most of the vehicles involved were accessible for seniors, wheelchair users and people with disabilities, including a 2017 Ford T150 van sold to 13 different people over 11 months.
The Department of Justice alleges Rock’s non-delivery sales scheme occurred between 2019 and 2023. The scheme centered on selling the same vehicle as many times as possible without a delivery. Rock took in $260,000 for the previously mentioned wheelchair-accessible T150 before handing over the van to one of the buyers, without a title. The scheme caused over $2.5 million in losses, according to a DOJ release.
The Associated Press spoke with a van dealer who was given a ridiculous runaround by Rock:
David Sodemann, co-founder of Boho Camper Vans, a company in Tempe, Arizona, that builds, rent and sells camper vans, said he wired Rock about $25,000 for two Ford cargo vans. A few months later, when the vehicles had not arrived, Sodemann began asking for the money back.
“It was a big mess for a long time,” Sodemann recalled in a phone interview Thursday. “He always had some excuse. He would take pictures of him sending the money back FedEx, but it never got dropped in the mail. It was all just a big show.”
It took almost two years of near-daily phone calls and Sodemann’s company getting a lawyer involved, but Rock finally returned the money, Sodemann said.
Rock could be spending the rest of his life in prison if convicted. His charges carry a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison, a 5-year period of supervised release, a $2,750,000 fine, and restitution and forfeiture.