Malden auto dealer racks up 267 auto theft charges

LYNN-A Malden auto dealer was arraigned in Lynn District Court Tuesday on 267 separate car theft-related criminal charges and ordered held on $50,000 cash bail.

Tariq Farooq, 32,of 31 Prosper St., Malden, was arrested and charged with 89 counts of motor vehicle theft by means of concealment, 89 counts of larceny over $250 and 89 counts of uttering a false check after a joint investigation by Lynn police, State Police and the Governor’s Auto Strike Task Force.

During Farooq’s arraignment, authorities arrested Farooq’s business partner, Naveed Khan, 36, of 67 Linden Ave., Malden in the courtroom for an outstanding warrant on charges related to the case.

Authorities say between August 2007 and January 2008 Farooq and Khan, car dealers for NTX Motors, purchased 89 vehicles from the Lynnway Auto Auction in Lynn using checks with insufficient funds.

According to Assistant District Attorney Colleen Cashman, the partners were doing business with Lynnway Auto Auction for a long period of time before things turned bad in August.

Farooq and Khan allegedly wrote checks to the auction for vehicles they wanted to purchase for their business but created an arrangement in which the owners of the auction did not cash the checks right away.

When the partners told Lynnway Auto Auction not to cash the checks, they cited financial difficulties at the time, prosecutors said. Because Farooq and Khan had a long pre-existing relationship with the Lynnway business, the owners agreed to the deal at first.

Originally Farooq asked the auction not to cash his checks for a few weeks, authorities said. But a few weeks turned into a few months and finally, in January, owners of the Lynnway Auto Auction allegedly told Farooq and Khan to give the vehicles back or hand over the money owed to them.

During this time period, NTX Motors closed their local offices and relocated to Arlington, Texas, authorities said.

The total loss of the vehicles is $113,879.

Most of the 89 vehicles involved in the transactions were used cars made in the 1990s and cost anywhere from $375 to $3,000 apiece.

When Lynnway Auto Auction tried to recover their losses, Farooq and Khan allegedly said they already compensated the auction for the “purchased” vehicles and they did not owe any money, according to State Police. They also said Lynnway Auto Auction had charged them with excessive interest rates during previous transactions.

The auction was “charging excessive interest rates than what is allowed under the law,” defense attorney Charles Vacca said, adding that Farooq may file charges against Lynnway Auto Auction at a later date.

Vacca also said the prosecution’s claims were “totally inaccurate.”

The Commonwealth asked Judge Stacey Fortes-White to hold Farooq on $115,000 cash bail due to the seriousness of the charges, but attorney Vacca asked that his client be released on personal recognizance because he is not a flight risk.

Before Fortes-White ordered Farooq back in court for a pre-trial hearing March 24, she ordered him held on the $50,000 cash bail.

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