HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Hendersonville boat dealer says he had a boat stolen from his lot. Only, this story doesn't involve a break in.
General Manager Eric Fitzgerald knows what he's selling, and for the most part, who he's selling to. So Fitzgerald didn't think twice when a familiar looking customer, Chase Brown, came in wanting to purchase a used Malibu wake boat.
"He’s been coming in for about a year. He has bought stuff in the pro-shop. He’s talked to us about buying boats. He’s friends with a lot of our customers," explained Fitzgerald, General Manager for TNT Watersports. "He went and got a cashier’s check, came back, paid for it, left with the boat like we always do."
Only, the check bounced. So the TNT team called Chase. He gave them an explanation and another check.
"Said that there was a problem with his bank, that there was a fraud alert on his account so they wouldn’t release the funds and he was going to bring us another check. Couple of days later, he brought us another check," said Fitzgerald.
It was only after that second check bounced that Eric realized, both were sophisticated forged cashier's checks. This is the first time in 20 years this has happened to us," he said.
Understandably, Eric wants his boat back. So he posted to social media. Instead of people recognizing the boat, they recognized Chase.
"Since then, we have received numerous messages from people here in town, people in Illinois, people in other states saying he has defrauded them of thousands and thousands of dollars," said Fitzgerald.
Quite the Rap Sheet
Perhaps this is a good time to tell you, Fitzgerald is also a 30 year retired veteran of Metro Nashville Police. He immediately started digging deeper and found the 25-year-old has quite the rap sheet.
"I found where he had been indicted in Illinois for fraud of 750,000 dollars," Fitzgerald said.
The Illinois Times out of Springfield reports a 21-year-old Brown was convicted of federal wire fraud involving selling medical equipment that was never delivered, using a stolen credit card to buy a Jeep Wrangler and bouncing a $375,000 check to a hospital. The article says Brown also lied on a credit card application to receive a six figure line of credit to buy aviation fuel and jet set until he reached the credit limit.
On a local level, Fitzgerald says he got a flood of calls from people who did business with Brown that never got paid for their services.
"Hey, he took me for $8,000, $10,000 — whatever the case may be," he said. "He owes his own roommate $26,000 dollars."
Evidently, Brown also used a forged check to purchase a boat at the Nashville Nautical Club too.
Constant contact
Believe it or not, the story gets weirder. Normally, when a fraudster pulls something like this, they go underground. Not only has Chase Brown been in contact with the team at TNT Watersports, he was texting with one of the salesmen during our interview with Fitzgerald.
"He’s been texting Lou, calling Lou," Fitzgerald explained.
Apparently, Chase has repeatedly asked the boat dealer to take their social media post down and still contends their money is coming. Fitzgerald doesn't buy it.
"It’s obvious that there’s no money, and if there is money, the money was gotten from illegal sales," he said.
Any leads?
Meanwhile, Fitzgerald says he has gotten a tip about the whereabouts of the missing Malibu. He's hopeful, with the help of law enforcement, he'll be able to get the boat back and Brown back behind bars.
Going forward, Fitzgerald says there will be changes at the store for all buyers, whether he knows them or not.
"We will verify everything, regardless of whether we know you or have seen you," he said.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
