Former Huling Bros. salesman convicted of theft
Paul Rimbey said he was shocked that King County jurors had decided his fate in only about three hours.
“I don’t know what to say,” Rimbey said Thursday as he awaited the verdict in his trial for first-degree theft. “This [case] has gone on for over a year.”
As it turned out, the King County Superior Court jury didn’t need more time to decide that Rimbey, a former salesman at Huling Brothers Auto Center, had bilked a vulnerable, mentally ill man out of a $30,000 pickup purchased from the dealership in July 2006.
Juror Don Huckins said it was clear to the jury that Rimbey took advantage of the man, who arrived at the dealership in feces-stained pants and with a sack full of cash. Prosecutors said Rimbey and other salesmen took advantage of the man’s diminished mental state. Two other former Huling employees are charged with stealing about $70,000 from the man’s home.
“What a pack of piranhas,” Huckins said.
Because jurors determined the victim was vulnerable, Rimbey could face an exceptional sentence when he is sentenced Jan. 4, said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tim Leary.
The case originated in July 2006, when the mentally ill man came into Huling Brothers to buy a pickup. The man paid $30,000 in cash for the vehicle, and told a salesman he had far more money back at his apartment, according to police reports.
The next day, former sales manager Adrian G. Dillard and another salesman, Ted Coxwell, went to the man’s home and stole the remaining cash, according to a Washington State Patrol report.
Shortly after purchasing the truck, the man was taken into protective custody by police, who took him to Harborview Medical Center’s psychiatric ward. The man’s truck was impounded.
According to testimony during his trial, Rimbey went to the hospital and volunteered to pay impound fees for the man’s truck, in exchange for the man’s signature on a contract giving Rimbey ownership if he wasn’t repaid about $900 in impound fees plus $300 for Rimbey’s assistance, within 30 days.
But the man said he didn’t receive his Social Security checks and couldn’t repay Rimbey, prosecutors said. Two weeks later, Rimbey went to the state Department of Licensing, told the clerk the new $30,000 GMC truck was a gift and transferred the title into his own name.
The Seattle Times isn’t naming the man because he is mentally ill and vulnerable.
Defense attorney Tony Savage argued during the trial that the contract Rimbey got the man to sign while he was in a psychiatric ward was a legal business transaction.
“As unsavory as it might be, it’s not theft,” he said in closing arguments. “How can you say Mr. Rimbey stole the truck when [the victim] didn’t live up to the contract? It strikes me that what the state has done is make a contractual arrangement into a kind of morality play.”
Dillard and Coxwell, accused of stealing the man’s life savings from his Delridge Way Southwest apartment while he was hospitalized, face trial in January.
Steve Huling, former owner of Huling Brothers, repaid the victim for the pickup and the cash taken from his home.
Months after the man was bilked, Gee Automotive Companies purchased the dealership for $5.3 million. Blaming the scandal for waning business, Gee Automotive said last month it was being forced to close its doors.
Gee has filed suit against the former owners, claiming they knew about an alleged scandal involving Huling employees and did not disclose it before selling the business.
Huling, current landlord to the dealership, in turn is suing to try to evict Gee, saying the owners haven’t paid rent in months. Huling says Gee Automotive caused its own demise through bad business practices.
Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com