Complaint Review: Derrick Colbert Ebay ID 4664 - derrick - Dcolbert78 - Kevin Dwayne Gause - Ovilla Texas

Details and pictures on the website: http://benadams.blogspot.com Four months ago, my truck - a 1949 Chevy - was stolen through an elaborate ebay con that included a valid texas drivers license, a face-to-face meeting (he looked me in the eye and shook my hand), a fake cashiers check, an invalid license plate, and organized criminals. Friday night (7/6/2007): The ebay (ebay.com) auction ended at midnight, Friday night. Two people were bidding on my 1949 truck and drove the price up to $9600, despite the 'buy it now' price of $9000. The ebay item number is 150137286680 and you can still view my original ebay ad (search ebay.com for the item number). Sunday morning (7/8/2007): The winner of the auction was "Derrick Colbert" (ebay ID: 4664derrick, ebay ID: dcolbert78) and used phone number 770-597-9418 (This area code could be in Atlanta, Georgia) to arrange a meeting between me and the transport company. Sunday afternoon (7/8/2007 5:30pm): In Hondo, TX (Medina County), the "transport company guy" loaded the 1949 Chevy truck onto the trailer. The 'transporter' provided a commercial drivers license: TXDL: (censored - pending court case). Name showed (censored - pending court case). Address is (censored - pending court case). Ovilla TX 75154. Birthday is (censored - pending court case) - he was a tall and large black man (will update with pictures later). The black LandRover had damage to the grill and temporary dealer plates. The trailer did have a license plate. The trailer's license plate read: L73 WSP. The trailer had 2 wheels on each side (4 total). The trailer was a flat-bed trailer (no guard rails along the side or back). A yellow tie-down(s) was used to tie the truck to the trailer. [Update: A trailer was also reported stolen (and recovered -see story below- with various other stolen parts) under similar circumstances.] He handed me a cashier's check and I informed him that my title will only be provided when the check clears the bank. With the 'transporter' present, I made a call to 'Derrick Colbert' and a conversation was held. This means there are AT LEAST 2 people involved in the con (I consider this organized crime). Monday morning (7/9/2007 9am): The bank (Chase on Marbach in San Antonio, Texas) confirmed the check is fake. From the moment that I found out the check is fake, I began investigating the circumstances surrounding the theft of my truck. I asked the bank to immediately call the police (San Antonio Police Dept.). The responding officer said that I need to report the theft to the county sheriff where the crime occurred. I reported the theft to: 1. The Medina County Sheriff's Office: 830-741-6153 Case Number: 07-026254. 2. Ovilla Police Department: 972-617-7262. 3. The Castroville Police: 830-931-2222. 4. Ellis County Sheriff's Office: 972-825-4901. 5. Federal Bureau of Investigation, http://www.ic3.gov/ 6. Secret Service (http://www.secretservice.gov/contact_fcd.shtml ) 7. Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov/ ) 8. FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (http://www.fdic.gov/ ) 9. Texas Attorney General(http://www.oag.state.tx.us/ ) 10. KSAT News (Thanks Brian Mylar and Defenders!), San Antonio(http://www.ksat.com/ ) 11. Texas Rangers (http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/texas_rangers/ ) 12. Atlanta Crime Stoppers - http://www.crimestoppersatlanta.org/ 13. Texas DPS Waxachacie - 972-937-5370 14. Texas DPS Cleburne - 817-641-2204 15. Mesquite Police Dept. - 972-216-6261, 6254 16. Commerce Police Dept. - 903-886-1139 17. DeSoto Police Dept. - 972-223-6111 Although the authorities began investigating the case, I continued to keep an eye on various websites in an effort to provide helpful information to various law enforcement agencies. I sent regular and frequent updates (sometimes weekly) to some of the law enforcement agencies listed above. I regularly printed out relevant information to send packages of information to some of the agencies above (copy of my title, large detailed pictures of truck, actions of the ebay users that swindled me). Eventually, I found out (by watching one of his ebay IDs) that '4664derrick' won an ebay auction (ebay item: 120139663406, search ebay.com for the item number to see it) for a junky, cheap 1950 Chevy truck for a few hundred dollars. I thought to myself: Could he be planning to use that title for my truck? I contacted the authorities with this information and even contacted the seller. After confirming with the seller that I was a legitimate victim, the seller of the junky truck provided me with the information that he made the title out to. The seller made the 1950 Chevy Truck title for "4664derrick" to: (censored - pending court case), at the address: (censored - pending court case) in DeSoto TX 75115. The seller contacted 4664derrick via his phone number: 972-977-7776. The seller was Troy from Troy's Auto Sales in Colorado (http://www.troysautosales.com/ ). The information on the title continues to support the fact that the criminals are operating within a 10 mile radius in South Dallas in Texas. The valid drivers license is in the area, the license plate can be tracked back to the area, and now - the title information and ebay ID have been directly linked to this area. The title information provided by Troy gave us a name and address. After a call to the police department where the address was located, I found out that the authorities were able to recover a stolen trailer and parts linked to a stolen Ford. Although there was a barn on the property, the barn was empty and there was no sign of my truck. My truck was gone. I lost hope. Occassionally using various types of ebay searches, I came across some information regarding 4664derrick's ebay activities. '4664derrick' bought and paid for a 1971 Pontiac Firebird on or about July 23, 2007. I confirmed this with the woman from Oklahoma that sold it to him. It was a piece of junk and sold for $1500. The VIN (as listed on the ebay website) of the car he bought is 223871L106819. Interestingly enough, '4664derrick' tried to sell a very different, nice-looking, fully restored 1971 Firebird for $7400+. And, guess what - the VIN was the same 223871L106819. The ebay ids for the two auctions are 130136533277 and 160176066428. You may think - maybe, he restored it ... well, you could very well believe that IF HE HADN'T STOLEN YOUR TRUCK. I knew better. I had some family contact him when he was selling the Firebird on ebay and schedule to see the 1971 Firebird - this is how we found out about the warehouse on Woodhaven in Duncanville, TX (again - right back to the South Dallas area). I had my family back off and reported all of the events taking place to the authorities - including a satellite map of the warehouses where the cars are stored. I occassionally searched ebay.com for all cars & trucks between 1948 and 1951 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. During one of these occasional searches - it happened. My stolen truck (different color) popped up on ebay as item 110191688376, search ebay.com for that item number. Here's where it gets very interesting. Comparing the pictures that the crooks took of the 1971 Firebird and the 1949 Chevy (crooks are pretending it's a 1950 - see above), I noticed that the cars are being stored in the same warehouse. There are distinguishing factors - same old, green truck in background, same color garage doors, building color. Sure enough, family that had researched the original Woodhaven-area (in Duncanville, TX) location confirmed that they did see a matching truck (as shown in the picture) in this area. UPDATE: The warehouse where my truck was is actually about a block or two North of the Woodhaven warehouse. So I thought, the thieves are keeping the stolen cars inside the warehouse and only pulling them out to (1) photograph or (2) sell. But was it really my truck? So, using the detailed pictures I originally took for MY ebay ad, I compared the pictures he provided for HIS ebay ad. Interestingly enough, there are several factors (I call them smoking guns) that support everything I've been discussing. The passenger side of the front windshield has (and has always had) a yellow stain across the bottom. This was probably caused by the glue in the glass getting messed up or aging or something. Either way, the thieves couldn't paint over that. Another factor is the gas tank. Gas tanks for that truck are on the passenger side of the cab, behind the passenger door. On my truck, the gas tank is under the bed of the truck and there is no cap behind the passenger door. The cap is in the middle of the rear bumper, with a little door you have to swing open. In the pictures on the crooks ebay website, you can tell that the gas tank is missing from the passenger side of the cab. Another distinguishing factor is the rear corner windows - some models have them, some don't. The junk truck he bought from Colorado did not have the rear corner windows. My truck does. The truck on the ebay ad has the rear corner windows. There are many, many other things - too many to list here... things such as the SAME tear on the SAME bench seat in the SAME place! At this point, I guessed he would try and use the title of the 1950 Chevy truck bought in Colorado against my 1949 Chevy truck to claim ownership. I still have my 1949 Chevy title and the proof that the junk truck that he bought and my truck are not the same. I forwarded this information, including the general location of the warehouses, to all of the law enforcement agencies involved. During a personal conversation with an officer who will forever remain unnamed, we contemplated:"Unfortunately, laws (and lawyers) are two-fold. Laws may protect the innocent, but they are also used to protect the crooks. The laws protect the privacy of the crooks." Parts of this story are edited due to lawyers and the censorship powers they wield. I think to myself - "What happened to Texas? Right is right and wrong is wrong. Call it like you see it." Enter: Operation CTGT (Catch Thief, Get Truck) Although I firmly believe in law enforcement, the work they do and the sacrifice they continually make (they put their lives on the line every single day for you and I), I had to do something to help get the crooks. After all, my truck was FOR SALE and it was making me sick. I immediately started thinking about what I could do. So, I created and began working on Operation CTGT (Catch Thief, Get Truck) and broke the operation into 3 steps. Step 1 (COMPLETED 11/15/2007): Use fake ebay account to act as an interested buyer for ebay item: 110191688376. My long-time friend (censored: protecting his identity) let me use his ebay account that has been an active ebay member since April 2007 (before I was ripped off). I started using all capital letters within my ebay messages to act as a new computer user and interested buyer. Tuesday 11/13/2007: With the ebay account, I said: YOU SAY, ALL TRUCKS RUN AND DRIVE - DO THEY HAVE MECHANICAL PROBLEMS, IF SO, WHAT?? ALSO, I'M IN BEDFORD - CAN I SEE IN PERSON BEFORE AUCTION ENDS? Tuesday 11/13/2007: The seller responded: No mechanical problems. two of the truck have new motors and yes you can see them. Thank's for looking Thursday 11/15/2007: With the ebay account, I said: HELLO. 3 CLASSIC TRUCKS, IT LOOKS LIKE A GOOD DEAL. CAN WE CHECK THEM OUT THIS WEEKEND? IF THEY CHECK OUT I WANT TO SEE IF WE CAN MAKE A DEAL. MY BANK CLOSES AT NOON I THINK ON SATURDAYS, SO EARLY ON SATURDAY WOULD BE GOOD FOR US.' SAM 817 287 8623 11/16/2007 He replied: This weekend sounds good I'll call you Step 2 (COMPLETED 11/15/2007): Acquired Dallas-Fort Worth area based cell phone. I tested it twice to verify that the telephone number (817-287-8623) is valid. I have a little under 40 minutes on it, which should be ample for its purpose. The phone has no link to friends or family members. We are going to be dealing with crooks and I do not want the crooks to link phone numbers back to our family. The cell phone is linked to a fake person (Sam Redmon). Step 3 (COMPLETED 11/17/2007): Meet the crooks and Recover Truck. Due to pending investigations, I will not be able to provide information regarding this aspect of the sting. I took pictures of the recovery process of my truck. An anonymous family member (I'll call X) and I went to Duncanville, Texas. X and I successfully infiltrated the car theft ring and recovered the truck. I wish I could publish all of the details, however, there are pending investigations and I want to avoid compromising the integrity of the on-going investigations by giving detailed events of the sting operation. I sincerely appreciate the professionalism of the Duncanville Police Department - without the Duncanville PD, I probably would not have been able to recover the truck. As the investigation unfolds, I have many, many other people and police departments to give my sincere thanks to - all of you mean the world to me. I respect and salute each of you. Before mentioning names, I will confirm it is acceptable.