There are 2 reasons I am working with this one particular Sheriff's deputy. 1) He was one of the arresting officers of this same individual when he sold 2 cars last year for a couple and refused to give them their share of the $$$ (embezzlement). This incident (and all the others) happened long after I provided my car to him to be worked on. He had a clean record and outstanding references back in 2015 and early 2016 when I took my car down to him. Also in the last year or so, this painter (who also flips muscle and performance cars) sold a Porsche to a guy online and then refused to provide access to that car when the buyer made reservations for a professional auto transporter to pick it up. That guy sued and won back all his $$$. This might be a good reason why the painters house, where his shop is located, is being reprocessed by the bank due to foreclosure.

2) This deputy was one of the officers that "brokered" the pick up of a Chevelle from this same individual and this same shop not two weeks ago under very similar circumstances. This painter just dances around making promises to show up or deliver a car and then comes up with some excuse. The Chevelle owner just could not find him around every time he showed up to pick up his car. Medical problems seem to be his most popular "go to".

The only way the Sheriff can "force" this individual give me my car is to charge him with a crime. Otherwise, it is an attempt to voluntarily get the painter to release the car. The presence of the Sheriff's deputy was proven 2 weeks ago to be necessary leverage to "push" the painter to finally be at his shop at the agreed to date/time. The deputy told me that the painter has all the right in the world to demand that the deputy leave the premises (private property) and he would have to do that if asked.

When Passport's attempt to pick up my car was blown off by the painter at the beginning of October, Passport said they would not even consider rescheduling until I had independent 3rd party verification or dated photos that the car was at the location and ready to be pick up. They told me they see this kind of game played all the time by small shop owners. Since that first week of October, my friend has made numerous attempts to go down there for the independent verification AND I have worked on getting some fresh photographs. We finally got photos of just the undersides ("because it's being stored on a lift") two weeks ago. Now we know why there were only undercarriage pictures.

The only way I found out that the painter has not done any body work or paint in the 3.5 years is due to this same deputy, at my request, cornering the painter at his house and demanding to verify that my car has not been stolen. Again, this was a voluntary request. The painter could have told the deputy to take a flying leap unless he was going to arrest him for auto theft. We hoped with all the other legal actions pending, the painter has a reason to be fairly cooperative with law enforcement right now.

The deputy asked me to provide photographs and scans of all my legal documents for him. Of course the photos were of the car in gray primer with e-coated NOS front fenders. After the deputy saw the car and checked the VIN, he called me from his cruiser and told me it looked exactly like my 3.5 year old photos.

These matters are actually really delicate as far as laws are concerned in the US. If the relationship between you and the shop owner goes south, you are walking a tightrope between voluntary cooperation and your car becoming evidence. And it varies somewhat from state to state.

Then there is that really nasty situation where a shop owner can declare your car as "abandoned", get it titled in his name, and then sell it out from under you. Until I got those photos 2 weeks ago - I was thinking this was also a possibility.

And yes, any attempt to collect against the $$$ I paid for work that was not completed would be a civil lawsuit. That's a completely separate nightmare against someone that appears to be heading for bankruptcy.