HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – Dozens of car buyers in the Harrisburg area were allegedly scammed in an odometer tampering scheme that involved over four million miles rolled back on vehicles sold online.
According to Pennsylvania State Police, a family in Harrisburg was involved in unlicensed car sales on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist where they bought and sold over 150 vehicles in the Harrisburg area.
State Police say over 50 of the vehicles sold had their odometers tampered with prior to being sold.
One vehicle reported to State Police was purchased with the odometer showing approximately 130,000 miles sold for $6,750, however, the investigation showed the vehicle actually had over 320,000 miles and was valued at $2,100.
Other vehicles had odometer differences of up to hundreds of thousands of miles.
Craigslist provided State Police with information showing the seller of the vehicle used the email “cougerscoach@outlook.com” and from August 2018 through April 2022 the user had advertised 31 different vehicles. There were 47 different listings under the user with several listings being duplicates of the same vehicle or tile/wheel sales.
State Police say Earnest Fry sold the vehicles and was assisted by Keith Fry and Calvin Everett during the course of the incident with each person “having varying knowledge of this operation.”
A search warrant was approved for Earnest and Keith Fry’s residences where law enforcement found an Innova car scan reader, odometer correction disclosure forms, vehicle titles, month insert stickers, and both inspection and emission stickers.
According to court records, Earnest Fry is being charged with 54 felonies, including washing vehicle titles, tampering with public records, theft by deception, dealing in unlawful activities, and deceptive business practices. He’s also been charged with 11 related misdemeanors.
Court records show Keith Fry is being charged with four felonies, including changing odometer reading, tampering with public records, theft by deception, and dealing in unlawful acts. He’s also facing 43 counts of misdemeanor receiving stolen property.
Court records say Keith and Earnest Fry are both being held on $10,000 bail in the Dauphin County Prison.
Calvin Everett is being charged with one summary count of acting as a car dealer without a license. According to Trooper Frazer, Everett is the head football coach and athletic director at Harrisburg High School.
State Police say a majority of the victims were from the Harrisburg area including its surrounding counties with some out of state individuals.
