Prineville, Ore. – A Prineville car salesman and his business are coming under fire by a growing list victims for allegedly cheating them out of tens of thousands of dollars — which combined might be total hundreds of thousands. Central Oregon Motors, LLC, and its owner Michael Dwayne Smetzer, are also named defendants in two lawsuits for over $1.3 million.
One of the lawsuits, which was filed by Nextgear Capital, Inc., also names a Preston Shane Mayfield as a co-defendant who provided a personal guarantee for Smetzer. According to the complaint which alleges conversion, a civil legal term for theft, Smetzer engaged in “misappropriation of the proceeds of one or more items of collateral.”
The defendants reportedly obtained vehicles for resell using the loans, but then failed to make payments back to the creditors after selling the vehicles. The allegations made by several victims also alleged that Smetzer sold vehicles for them or their families on consignment in recent months, but then failed to remit payment to those individuals after convincing them to sign over the titles as part of the final transaction.
The second legal complaint, filed by Cashium Capital, seeks to recover $19,925.63 as part of breach of contract on another loan. The two lawsuits were filed within days of each other in Indiana and New York courts, respectively. According to Cashium Capital’s complaint, their loan was provided to Smetzer in May of this year.
According to Prineville resident Marshal Brooks and his family, Smetzer has also misrepresented details regarding the transactions, also alleging his belief that Smetzer may have obtained his loans from creditors as part of a conspiracy using their vehicle as collateral.
Brooks claimed that Smetzer strung his mother, Jamme Owen, along for weeks after claiming to have sold their jeep for approximately $33,000.
“It was just excuse after excuse, and he strung us along for months,” Brooks told the Prineville Review.
“With the police its just a civil issue — clearly this is bigger than just us and the way it happened makes it obviously that the guy is committing fraud against a bunch of us — that’s criminal.”
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In late September, Smetzer texted Owen deflecting blame for the payment delay, a claim that came after being told a promised payment from the sale of their car had been processed over a month prior.
The Brooks’ provided copies of their text conversations with Smetzer to the Prineville Review.
“Hi Jamme– I know it’s a process, we can thank the IRS and government for tracking every cent. I’m in Arizona but I’ll get back into the system and screen shot the payments going out to you guys,” Smetzer texted September 26th.
Earlier the same month, Owen had also asked Smetzer via text: “You have no concerns about us getting paid?” Smetzer responded: “No absolutely not, and we have very good insurance! It’s comming [sic]”.
Texts August 6th text from Smetzer reportedly confirmed the jeep had been sold and payment was being arranged — a month prior to the filling of either of the two lawsuits against Smetzer.
Another resident, Adam Powell, also claimed on a social media post started by Brooks that he had a similar situation happening to him as well. Powell did reach out to the Prineville Review but we have yet to speak with him for more details.
A post from another user also claimed that Smetzer has defrauded others for over a decade, but the Prineville Review could not confirm who the poster was.
“Told everybody this guy was shady 10 years ago when he was flipping cars on Craigslist. Now he’s the exact same shady guy with bank loan money and a dealer’s license. I’ve seen so many people buy cars from him and they’re just lemons or should have been scrapped. I’ve also seen titling issues from him as well buying a clean title car and it coming back dirty or salvaged. And now apparently he’s running a consignment scam… Not surprised but I’ll share and spread the word…”
Nextgear Capital’s legal complaint also alleged that Smetzer had sold numerous items of collateral without remitting proceeds from the sales.
“Dealer has sold no fewer than seventeen(17) items of collateral without remitting the proceeds from such sales as it was required to do under the terms of the Note… Smetzer Jr. was and is aware of Dealer’s sales of the collateral out of trust.”
“Dealer, and Smetzer Jr. committed willful and malicious injury to Plaintiff by misappropriating and converting the proceeds of certain collateral,” the complaint also alleged.
Attorneys for Nextgear Capital did not return our calls seeking comment in recent weeks when we started investigating the allegations.
The Prineville Review also attempted multiple times in recent weeks to reach Smetzer by phone and in person at his place of business without success. The day of publication we again called the business but received a voicemail that now directed inquiries to be sent via email. The day after this story’s initial publication, Smetzer responded by email declining to comment.
“I am declining to comment due to pending litigation,” Smetzer said, in part.
The Google business page for Central Oregon Motors now says its temporarily closed. Brooks and others alleged that Smetzer will no longer return their calls as well.
Victims of fraud can also report their experiences to the Oregon Department of Justice online or by phone, as well as reach out to their local law enforcement. An online database is also available online. You can visit the Oregon DOJ’s Consumer Protection resources at this link: https://www.doj.state.or.us/consumer-protection/
This is a developing story that we will keep you updated on. If you have had interactions with Central Oregon Motors or Michael Smetzer and would like to share them with us please contact us by email at news@prinevillereview.com. You can also call us at (541) 241-2074.
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