The Lawrenceville Police Department Monday issued two warrants for suspects who are allegedly responsible for defrauding over a dozen victims at a used car dealership.
The department began investigating in February when they received multiple tips from customers of an Auto Star car dealership at 220 Scenic Highway in Lawrenceville. The reporting customers believed the dealership had defrauded them, and once multiple customers were interviewed, an investigation immediately began.
The scheme used by Alexander Weigard, 27, of Dunwoody and Ibrahim Ali, 30, of Buford started out as the two men introducing themselves as managers of the business to prospective customers. The two suspects would then ask customers for a down payment on a vehicle. Once the suspects received the cash, the victims were told to return the following day to “finalize the loan process,” according to the Lawrenceville Police Department.
Once the victims returned to the dealership, they were told by the two suspects their loan application was denied.
The two suspects would then refuse to return the down payment to the customer, citing a no-refund policy.
Detectives later learned the suspect's sole intentions were to defraud customers and subsequently steal their money, according to Captain Salvador Ortega with Lawrenceville police. It is said the suspects had no intention of processing loan applications since no loan paperwork was ever completed by the suspects or submitted to a financial institution.
Weigard and Ali used social media to lure potential customers to the Auto Star car lot by advertising vehicles for sale. The two social media pages used by the suspects include Atlanta Highline Motors and Atlanta Motor Source, both of which are reportedly fictitious companies.
Auto Star owners were notified of the complaints against the two suspects, and both of them were fired immediately. The owners of Auto Star are also said to be “working diligently with detectives” in pursuing the investigation.
Both Weigard and Ali remain at large as of the last report.
The Lawrenceville Police Department is asking anyone with information on their whereabouts to contact authorities by calling (770) 670-5172 or email Detective Woods with the department at [email protected].
Images of the two suspects can be viewed in the above photo gallery.
