For several months items and cash were turning up missing from customer vehicles at the Tradition Chevrolet/Buick/GMC/Cadillac dealership in Newark.
It was frustrating when even vehicles in the indoor service area fell prey to a thief. At first, the logical list of potential suspects – employees – were interviewed and eliminated, but it had to be someone with a key.
Through the process of elimination, police, and the dealer personnel began zoning in on an early morning parts delivery man.
Newark Village Police set up two vehicles inside the service area. One officer sat inside, the other outside in the early morning hours on Wednesday (7/6).
It was between 3:45 a.m. and 4:15 a.m. when the suspected car parts delivery truck pulled in and the driver, with flashlight in hand, began rifling through one car outside, before letting himself in to the service area.
Police closed in, and the driver, Dana Chiasson, age 52, of 867 Emerson Avenue in Syracuse was taken into custody. He had reportedly helped himself to $18.12 in change left in the vehicles.
Dario Hodge is the owner at Tradition Chevy. “It’s an absolute embarrassment to myself, my staff, and my company. We work so hard to build a name in the community, only to have that name tarnished by an outside vendor. I always felt in my heart that it wasn’t our employees. I look them in the eyes every day. We had done everything we possibly could internally with no results.”
Hodge hired a private investigator who eventually recommended getting the police involved. He stated that he lost thousands of dollars between hiring the investigator and reimbursements.
“It deeply saddens me that he was released without an arraignment, but I’m confident that the District Attorney and the police will satisfy not only me, but the community. I’m glad this saga has come to an end and I apologize to any customers who may have been impacted,” said Hodge
“In a small community like this, word travels like wildfire. We work hard to build confidence and sincerely hope the community understands that this was out of our control,” he added.
Chiasson, working for Dedicated Logistics, was charged with Petit Larceny. He had been delivering car parts for the Company since July of 2015.
Police also reported that the Tradition dealership was Chiasson’s first stop, with eleven other Wayne, Seneca, Ontario, Cayuga and Monroe County dealerships on his delivery route. According to police, several of the other dealerships had reported losses also.
Lou Muto, the Service manager at VanBortel Chevrolet in Macedon said they had been having problems for several months. One customer reported a $400 loss, including a camera. Tools, money and assorted items were also on the list of stolen items.
Muto also had originally believed it had to be an inside job. After eliminating his own employees, he requested a new cleaning crew be assigned by the outside contractor. When that failed to stop the thefts, Muto began locking the indoor vehicles as well, putting the vehicle keys in a lock box in the service area. He felt the outside Monroe County dealerships were prime candidates for the thefts, since they were first on the early morning deliveries.
Chiasson was fired from his job and was given an appearance ticket for Newark Village Court on July 20th.
According to police, the delivery/trucking company had obviously not done a background check on Chiasson, who has a felony conviction background for Burglary. He is also listed on the New York State Sex Offender Registry for a conviction for Deviate Sexual Intercourse with a 12 year-old female in July of 2002 out of Onondaga County.
More charges may be pending against Chiasson as the investigation continues in other municipalities.
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