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The scandal originated in July 2006, when a 59-year-old customer who had a history of mental illness came into Huling Brothers wearing feces-stained pants and seeking to buy a truck. The man paid $30,000 for a vehicle, and told a salesman he had far more money back at his apartment, according to police reports. The next day, Dillard and five underlyings practically tripped over each other to be the first to steal the remaining cash; Dillard and another salesman, Ted Coxwell, succeeded, according to a Washington State Patrol report.
After being beaten to the cash by co-workers, another salesman, Paul Rimbey, managed to steal the man’s new $30,000 truck by getting him to sign over ownership while the man was in Harborview Medical Center’s psychiatric ward, according to charging papers....
To understand why business had dropped, Gee said his company commissioned a survey of West Seattle residents. About 90 percent of the respondents said they knew of the criminal allegations at Huling, Gee said.
“Even though we made significant efforts to differentiate ourselves from the former Huling name, the impact of this event and stigma associated with it, we weren’t able to recover from,”
The lingering taint of fraud scandal at the former Huling Brothers auto dealerships in West Seattle has forced the new owner to close their doors, according to the dealerships’ CEO.