SLC Times

Salt Lake City, Utah – Porter R. Hamblin, 20, of South Salt Lake, Utah, pleaded guilty today to three counts of false odometer statements. Last week, Hamblin’s co-defendant, Austin Weilacher, 21, of South Salt Lake, also admitted to the same crimes that defrauded unsuspecting used car purchasers through odometer fraud.

According to court documents and statements made at the change of plea hearings, from May 2023 to July 2023, Hamblin and Weilacher engaged in a fraudulent scheme to sell vehicles with broken or false odometers. They admitted they purchased higher mileage vehicles and then advertised them for sale on local websites, usually KSL.com. They sometimes listed the vehicles with different Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) and/or with lower mileage. The defendants would then sell the vehicles at inflated prices to consumers in the Salt Lake Valley.

The purpose of the scheme was to receive inflated prices for the vehicles and use the cash from these sales to purchase other vehicles for resale or high-end vehicles for personal use. As a result of this scheme, buyers paid more for used vehicles than they would have if they had known the correct mileage readings.

Hamblin is scheduled to be sentenced on August 16, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. in courtroom 8.1 and Weilacher is scheduled for sentencing on August 29, 2024 at 1:30 p.m., also in courtroom 8.1 at the Orrin G. Hatch United States District Courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.

United States Attorney Trina A. Higgins of the District of Utah made the announcement.

The case is being investigated jointly by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (UPD).

Assistant United States Attorney Stewart M. Young of the District of Utah is prosecuting the case.