Tag: Scams

Red Rock Auto wage theft lawsuit headed for trial Dec. 9-11

Red Rock GMC on First Street in Grand Junction, where Derek Paíz was employed as a detailer

A civil wage theft lawsuit, 23CV52 (pdf), filed by a tenacious former vehicle detailer against Red Rock Auto Group II, Inc. and Red Rock’s local minority owner Bryan Knight, is headed for a fast-approaching jury trial December 9-11, 2024 at the Mesa County Justice Center.

At a virtual pre-trial conference this morning, November 20, Judge Matthew Barrett confirmed that the trial is set for those dates and will be heard by a 6-person jury.

Bryan Knight, now listed as a minority (10%) owner of Red Rock GMC

Derek Paíz worked as a detailer for Red Rock GMC at 741 N. First Street in Grand Junction from April-September, 2022. He filed the case pro se (on his own, without an attorney) on October 26, 2023 seeking wages he alleges Red Rock failed to pay him for work he did while employed at the GMC dealership in 2022. 

State opens case into alleged forgery at Red Rock Hyundai

Subpoena related to a 2022 transaction at Red Rock Hyundai in which allegedly forged signatures were discovered by a credit union on purchase documents for a used 2020 GMC Sierra truck. Mr. Acevedo, the customer who tried to buy the vehicle, was the victim in the case.

The Colorado Attorney General and Auto Industry Division are subpoenaing documents related the alleged forgery of signatures discovered during a customer’s attempt to purchase a used truck at Red Rock Hyundai in 2022. 

Jesus Acevedo, the victim of the alleged 2022 forgeries in the case, received a subpoena dated 8/29/2024 in the state’s case.

In January, 2022 Mr. Acevedo attempted to buy a 2020 GMC Sierra pickup from Red Rock Hyundai. He was never shown any of the documents from his purchase while he was at the Hyundai dealership. He saw them for the first time at the Sooper Credit Union, where he went to arrange financing. A loan officer printed out the documents from the sale and saw four signatures that didn’t look like Mr. Acevedo’s signature. He showed the signatures to Mr. Acevedo, who affirmed they were not his. One of the questionable signatures was on an agreement to buy a $10,000 extended warranty that Mr. Acevedo wasn’t told about and did not approve.

St. Mary’s helps greedwash one of Earth’s worst corporate criminals

Cover of the new “Grand Junction Lifestyle” magazine recently distributed through the USPS mail

Yesterday’s mail brought a glossy new promotional magazine called “Grand Junction Lifestyle.” Given the cute kid and baby animal pictured on the cover, one would hope the lifestyle they’re trying to promote would be a healthy one. But instead, upon opening the front cover, readers are served up a two-page ad promoting one of the biggest corporate criminals and polluters on Earth, the Chevron Corporation:

Defrauded by a dealership and can’t afford to sue? There’s another way to get compensation: Make a claim against the dealership’s surety bond.

Did you buy a vehicle from a local dealership only to find out later you were defrauded in some way? Can’t afford an attorney to help?

Fortunately, there’s another, completely unpublicized way car buyers can get compensation for a fraudulent deal committed by a dealership.

Surety bonds

Colorado law requires every licensed motor vehicle dealer to carry a surety bond. The bond is meant to protect customers from fraudulent business practices.

Red Rock elevates former owner, who presided over frauds and arrests, to General Manager over all five dealerships

Red Rock Nissan at 2582 Highway 6 & 50 in Grand Junction

In February, 2024, the sole local owner of Red Rock Auto dealerships, Bryan Knight, was removed from the Auto Industry Division’s list of owners of the business. The change came about after two years of customers and former employees  speaking up about the questionable business practices the dealerships were found to be using under Knight’s ownership. Yet despite Knight getting booted as an owner, he was reportedly still present and working at the dealerships. So with all that has been revealed about how Red Rock was operating in Grand Junction to the detriment of the community, why would the other owners of Red Rock Auto decide to push Knight out, only to keep him around with a hand in the business?

New information explains why.

Tina Peters is working to pack the courtroom during her trial, urging her supporters to bring kids into the courtroom & organizing marches around town in support of herself

Banner from Tina’s new web page, “Free Tina Peters”

Tina Peters has a new website, FreeTina.com, that she’s not just using to continue to solicit donations for her legal defense, but also to organize what she hopes will be a massive show of support before and during her criminal trial, scheduled for July 29 – August 12 at the Mesa County Justice Center.

Tina faces a mix of 10 felony and misdemeanor charges, including three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, first degree official misconduct, violation of duty and failure to comply with requirements of the Secretary of State. She could be sentenced to prison if convicted.

Tina is using the website to recruit people around the country to lead “Virtual Daily Prayer” sessions for her and she is organizing “in-person Jericho walks” around Grand Junction. She posts a call-in phone number where people can “dial in to listen or add a prayer.”

Tina Peters taking advantage of delays in her trials to sell “Tina Peters-as-Hero” swag

Tina Peters “Patriot Whistleblower Truth Teller” dog hoodie

Tina Peters has wasted no time in taking advantage of the most recent delays in her criminal and civil trials to milk her status as a darling of the Trump Party and rake in more money. She has started broadening her appeal to the MAGA crowd by praising people convicted of participating in the deadly January 6 insurrection, lovingly referring to them as “our J6ers.” She condemns “the military-age men who are coming across our border with debit cards and buying $5,000 worth of new clothes” “and saying in no uncertain terms “… we need an authoritarian in office.”

While she repeatedly insists in her videos that she hasn’t profited from anything she’s done, Tina has also quickly rolled out a huge line of Tina Peters-as-Hero themed promotional gear for sale through her website, including T-shirts, sweatshirts, “Patriot-Whistleblower-Truth Teller Tina Peters” greeting cards (pack of 5 for $25), aluminum Tina Peters-themed vanity license plates with her website on it ($14.85), Tina Peters Sherpa Fleece Blankets ($70.40 – $97.70), “I stand with Tina Peters” scented candles ($38.10), dog hoodies ($37.35), backpacks and whiskey glasses,

Tina Peters fires her attorneys for the 5th time, delaying her criminal trial AGAIN

Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, shown here with Mesa County Commissioner Bobbie Daniel (R)

Republican former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters fired her attorneys again today and been granted another delay in her criminal trial as a result. He trial was scheduled to start this Friday, 2/9/24.

The Colorado Sun reports that Judge Matthew Barrett has now set Tina’s criminal trial for July 29 through Aug. 12, 2024. This is the fifth time Tina has switched lawyers since 2022, when a grand jury indicted her on a 13 count mix of felonies and misdemeanors related to election tampering.

Soils report at heart of lawsuit against Cody Davis & Chronos Builders recommended alternative foundations, but plaintiffs say Davis never disclosed the report to them as Colorado law requires

Swelling clay soils can triple their volume when they get wet, causing them to exert tremendous force on a home’s foundation, and hence damage, if no measures are taken to mitigate the potential damage. Clay soils are very common across Mesa County. [Click photo to enlarge for better view.] (Photo: Colorado Geological Survey)

The geotechnical soils investigation (pdf) done on a building lot on Horseshoe Drive in Fruita where Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis and his construction company, Chronos Builders, built a spec home in 2015-2016 stated clearly that expansive clay soils were present on the site and that “Based upon our experience with the Mancos shale in the vicinity of the site, the shale is anticipated to be slightly to moderately expansive.”

Michael A. Berry, the professional engineer who authored the report, recommended three types of foundations that would better protect the structure from “heave related movements” than a typical shallow foundation, but also admitted such foundations are “usually cost prohibitive.”

FTC finalizes CARS Rule to combat Red Rock-style auto sales scams that have plagued customers

Last minute update: The FTC’s CARS Rule, which is the subject of this article and was intended to put a stop to shady dealerships’ worst abuses of customers, was scheduled to go into effect July 30, 2024, but was officially postponed (pdf) on January 18, 2024 as a result of lobbying by the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association, which oppose the rule.

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On December 12, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized the Combating Auto Retail Scams rule (CARS) to end the most common abuses that dealerships like Red Rock Auto in Grand Junction have long perpetrated on customers when selling cars. The CARS Rule was scheduled to go into effect on July 30, 2024. [See above last minute update].

Tina Peters sues to overturn her $15,400 campaign finance violation fine

Tina Peters in a November 2, 2023 video posted on YouTube

Tina Peters filed a lawsuit (pdf) November 8 against Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold to overturn the $15,400 campaign finance violation fine an administrative law judge levied against her on October 4, 2023, claiming the fine is “unfair” and that it has “irreparably injured” her.

The Court fined her for soliciting donations to run for re-election as Mesa County Clerk in 2021-2022 without having first filed the necessary paperwork with the state that requires she report the money she raised and spent on her campaign. The fine pertained to Tina’s campaign for County Clerk that she dropped out of in 2022 to run for Colorado Secretary of State instead. Tina lost the primary election for that seat to her Republican competitor by 14 percentage points, but she is telling people in interviews that she won that election.

Tina Peters takes the 5th Amendment repeatedly in deposition about soliciting illegal campaign contributions

Tina Peters’ mugshot for her arrest on 3/9/2022

On September 29, Colorado Administrative Law Judge Timothy Nemecheck fined former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters $15,400 for illegally soliciting and accepting contributions to a 2022 re-election campaign for county clerk without first registering as a candidate with the State.

The fine was the end result of two campaign finance complaints filed in 2021 by Scott Beilfuss, who is now a Grand Junction City Councilman. The first complaint was dated August 16, 2021. Beilfuss wrote a single sentence:

“Tina Peters flew up to Mr. Pillows cybersymposium on a private plane provided to her and is staying as a guest of the Pillow foundation in a clear violation of accepting gift laws.”

9News reports Tina Peters fined $15,400 for campaign finance violation while running for Mesa County Clerk

Marshall Zelinger of 9News’ Next with Kyle Clark reported on Friday, October 6, 2023 that an administrative law judge has fined Republican former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters $15,400 for soliciting donations to run for re-election as Mesa County Clerk without having first filed the necessary paperwork with the state that requires she report all the money she raised and spent on her campaign. The $15.4k fine pertains to Tina’s campaign for Clerk that she dropped out of in 2022 to run for Colorado Secretary of State instead.

Colorado Public Radio has published additonal information on Tina Peters’ campaign finance fine here: Former Mesa Clerk Tina Peters fined for failing to register reelection campaign, by Bente Berkeland, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2023

Tina Peters has filed to run for Colorado Secretary of State in 2026, but may be using it to defray her personal expenses of being a professional election denier


In the above interview posted on Rumble.com on 9/18/23 for the Clay Clark ReAwaken America tour, Tina Peters lies and tells viewers she won the 2020 election for Colorado Secretary of State.  “The Reawaken America tour is a series of controversial far-right conferences held across the United States featuring prominent QAnon influencers, anti-vaxx activists, election fraud conspiracy theorists, Christian pastors, political candidates and elected officials,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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Indicted former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters has filed to run for Secretary of State in Colorado in 2026, and as of July 23, 2023 had almost $305,000 in the bank for her campaign, according to Colorado Tracer, the online campaign finance reporting system.

Tina has not publicly stated she has an active campaign for Colorado Secretary of State in 2026, but that has not stopped her from listing campaign expenses for it.

But filing to run for SOS in 2026 looks more like it may be a tactic Tina is using to defray her personal costs of being a darling of the election denier cult while she awaits her criminal trial next February.

Former Red Rock principals who left under a cloud open financial consulting business, go into real estate locally

Note that “Bookcliffs Investment Group, LLC” is not be confused with “Bookcliffs Financial Planning and Investments,” which is an entirely different company unaffiliated with Reade and Adams’ business.

Former Red Rock Nissan and Kia managing partner Brantley Reade and the former General Manager of Red Rock’s GMC dealership, Cord Adams, who both left Red Rock under a cloud on the same day last January, opened a financial investment business together last February, shortly after leaving Red Rock.

Reade and Adams were part of the so-called “fraternity” of managers from Tim Dahle dealerships in Salt Lake who came to Grand Junction to help run the Red Rock Auto Group. They were high-management casualties of the large-scale personnel churn that began near the end of 2022, after customers started revealing the illegal and unethical business practices they fell victim to while buying vehicles at Red Rock dealerships.

Second Red Rock Auto financial manager charged with crimes against customers

Daily Sentinel headline, August 29

A second former Red Rock GMC financial manager has been charged with forgery, criminal impersonation and identity theft within the last month after posing as a customer on a phone call to the Canvas Credit Union to try to expedite a customer’s vehicle loan.

Matthew Morris acted as an accomplice to Tiffany Miller, the first Red Rock GMC financial manager charged with the same crimes in early August. Both Morris and Miller were fired from Red Rock, but in her arrest affidavit Miller pointed to Red Rock management as pressuring her to commit the crimes. In the same affidavit (pdf), Morris said that Red Rock GMC Sales Manager Tyson Chambers and General Manager Caleb Stillman both knew he and Miller were making the fake calls to

Tyson Chambers, General Manager of Red Rock GMC

the lender and that they “and essentially encouraged the behavior.” Morris added that “he was terminated [from his job] not for making the call, but for being caught.”

What we learned from former Red Rock GMC financial manager Tiffany Miller’s arrest affidavit

Mug shot of Tiffany Momilani Miller, a former Red Rock GMC financial manager who was arrested earlier this month on charges of forgery, criminal impersonation and identity theft. (Photo: Daily Sentinel/GJPD)

Former Red Rock GMC financial manager Tiffany M. Miller was arrested earlier this month and charged with forgery, identity theft and criminal impersonation.

AnneLandmanBlog obtained a copy of the full August 2 arrest affidavit (pdf) for Miller.

The biggest takeaways from it are summarized below:

  • A couple was trying to buy a vehicle from Red Rock GMC at 741 N. First Street, and applied for a loan through the dealership. After they left with the vehicle, two Red Rock financial managers, Tiffany Miller and Matthew Morris, phoned the customers’ lender and posed as the couple, in a claimed effort “to verify the information on the auto [credit] application,” and “expedite the loan process.”
  • In addition to posing as the customers, Miller falsified information on the customers’ credit application, including who the primary driver of the vehicle would be, and the length of time the couple had lived at their residence, and she falsely stated the car had extra accessories it didn’t actually have, including running boards, rear bucket seats, a rear entertainment system and blind spot monitors. The customers told GJPD investigators the car they were purchasing had none of these features. These items would have increased the value of the vehicle to the lender. (Note: This is a practice that, according to a former Red Rock finance employee is called “Power Booking,” that is aimed at increasing the value of the car to the lender to get the customer a bigger loan.)
  • The Grand Junction Police Department (GJPD) first sent the case to the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Auto Industry Division (AID), the enforcement agency for dealerships. Months later, the AID sent it back to the GJPD because “the allegations are for felony criminal activity.”
  • Red Rock GMC General Manager Tyson Chambers said Red Rock GMC got “locked out” of Canvas Credit Union via their online lending platform, Credit Union Direct Lending (CUDL), because of the “victim complaint and the potential forgery on the loan application.”

    Tyson Chambers, General Manager of Red Rock GMC, who, according to Miller’s arrest affidavit, pressured Red Rock Human Resources Manager Amy Felix to lie on a form about why Tiffany Miller had left Red Rock. Felix told a police investigator Tyson had ordered her to lie on the form because he “didn’t want to ruin [Tiffany Miller’s] life.”

  • Tyson Chambers fired both Tiffany Miller and Matthew Morris, the two GMC financial managers who posed as customers on the phone call to the lender. Morris later told the GJPD criminal investigator that he was told that making calls posing as customers was “just part of the business and everyone knows they do it, to include the banks.”

Violation of state law let Rowland seize control of Mesa County Public Health Department

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland

Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland succeeded in imposing her political will on the Mesa County Public Health Department yesterday after appointing two final conservative members to the Mesa County Board of Public Health (BOH).

Health Department employees point out Rowland made all the new appointments to the Board of Health without consulting a single person at the Health Department.

“The fact that they keep appointing people to our Board that so clearly do not support the work that we do feels like a spit in the face every time,” one employee said.