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Wisconsin man avoids jail by agreeing to have his Nissan Skylines crushed
autoblog.com ^ | May 29th 2012 2:58PM | Zach Bowman

Posted on 06/04/2012 1:32:17 PM PDT by Cowman

Authorities in Wisconsin are bound and determined to crack down on gray market vehicles. According to Stevens Point Journal, In 2010, the state government orchestrated a sting to catch Justin Beno selling two Nissan Skyline models, one of which played a role in the Fast and Furious franchise.

A Wisconsin Department of Transportation investigator spotted both a 1995 and a 1996 Skyline up for sale and pretended to be a buyer. The investigator asked if it were possible to get the cars titled, and Beno said he believed the vehicles could be titled in Florida, then retitled in Wisconsin.

This was not the correct answer. The government seized both cars and charged Beno with a spate of offenses, including two felony counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one felony count of owning a vehicle without a vehicle identification number tag and two misdemeanors tied to those missing VIN tags. Beno said he had originally purchased the cars as bare shells without the tags and that the seller later mailed them along. He also says he didn't know it was a crime to simply own a car without its VIN tag attached.

Brown County Deputy District Attorney Dana Johnson offered Beno a plea deal wherein he would accept the misdemeanor charges and give up both fully restored Skylines. After offering to pay the fines and help the authorities find buyers for both machines overseas, the prosecutor declined. Instead, both cars will be crushed and sold for scrap. That's particularly heartbreaking after Beno spent years assembling both from parts bought from all over the world. It's made worse by the fact that in just a few short years, both cars will be exempt from federal safety and emissions standards for vehicles over 25 years old.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: greymarket; nannystate; nissan; stolencar
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I'm sorry but isn't this just a case of car theft. Just because you don't have the factory VIN the State will take your car? What about rebuilt and multi make or custom cars? It sounds like they just don't like something they don't have total control over.
1 posted on 06/04/2012 1:32:29 PM PDT by Cowman
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To: Cowman
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

"Atlas Shrugged," by Ayn Rand

2 posted on 06/04/2012 1:36:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the sociopath.)
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To: Cowman
I think the word folks are looking for is 'tyrany'.

And that's what we live under.

/johnny

3 posted on 06/04/2012 1:37:49 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Cowman

I see a prosecutor and a cop that either need to be fired or they need to start going after real crime, such as murder, arson, rape, theft, etc.

However, if these two cannot find enough to do so this is the kind of thing the cop and prosecutor go after, then obviously there are too many cops.


4 posted on 06/04/2012 1:38:47 PM PDT by stylin_geek (Never underestimate the power of government to distort markets)
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To: Cowman

How much does this Wisconsin hero make with salary and benefits? Saving us common folk against a few unusual cars... I feel so much safer with people like this on guard... /S


5 posted on 06/04/2012 1:41:06 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Cowman

I would more expect this from California than Wisconsin. But crushing the cars are a pure power trip and waste.


6 posted on 06/04/2012 1:42:21 PM PDT by CORedneck
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To: Cowman

After offering to pay the fines and help the authorities find buyers for both machines overseas, the prosecutor declined.


Anyone have an explanation?


7 posted on 06/04/2012 1:43:16 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( (Lord, save me from some conservatives, they don't understand history any better than liberals.))
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To: PeterPrinciple
Power hungry assholes with nothing better to do?

Tar. Feathers. Repeat until they stop it...

8 posted on 06/04/2012 1:51:05 PM PDT by Dead Corpse (Steampunk- Yesterday's Tomorrow, Today)
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To: PeterPrinciple
Anyone have an explanation?

A Democrat? Compost in the mentis? Supercilious martinet? Moron?

9 posted on 06/04/2012 1:53:13 PM PDT by DeFault User
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To: Dead Corpse

I unstand your response but why would the authorities need help finding overseas buyers?


10 posted on 06/04/2012 1:54:58 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( (Lord, save me from some conservatives, they don't understand history any better than liberals.))
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To: Dead Corpse

Just as long as ya use a hot roofing tar kettle, and dunk ‘em.


11 posted on 06/04/2012 2:02:51 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it and the law is what WE say it is.)
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To: Cowman

Here is one that sold for $58,000. Note right hand drive?

http://www.classyauto.com/v/Nissan+Skyline/GTR/54476


12 posted on 06/04/2012 2:04:07 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple ( (Lord, save me from some conservatives, they don't understand history any better than liberals.))
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To: Cowman
It's an old trick but . . . .
13 posted on 06/04/2012 2:22:57 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: Cowman
"Brown County Deputy District Attorney Dana Johnson"

Prosecutors are clearly an unregulated problem here in the US.

14 posted on 06/04/2012 2:33:25 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: USMCPOP
Saving us common folk against a few unusual cars

What I want to know is, Just what makes these things so unsafe?

If they drive around in Tokyo, London, Sydney, and Sao Paolo with these cars and they are safe there, Why are they unsafe in Green Bay or Madison?

something just ain't right.

15 posted on 06/04/2012 2:40:14 PM PDT by Cowman (How can the IRS seize property without a warrant if the 4th amendment still stands?)
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To: Paladin2

If things go right tomorrow (crossing fingers and toes and praying) the high-water mark will be visible and we can take these thugs down at our leisure.

De-worm our Republic!


16 posted on 06/04/2012 2:47:19 PM PDT by txhurl (AB would vote for Scott Walker.)
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To: txhurl

God bless America, God bless Wisconsin.
Go get ‘em!


17 posted on 06/04/2012 2:50:46 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: txhurl

PTL and pass the ammo, but overreaching prosecutors are not going away soon.


18 posted on 06/04/2012 2:57:52 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2; nascarnation

Fight, Wisconsin! Fight!

You are the future.

(Prayers, Lord that it goes as you will it so.)


19 posted on 06/04/2012 3:21:21 PM PDT by txhurl (AB would vote for Scott Walker.)
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To: Cowman
He also says he didn't know it was a crime to simply own a car without its VIN tag attached.

My computer doesn't have a VIN. Wonder how long I'll get away with that. There's no such thing as private property anymore -- just stuff we pay for and use as long as the government permits.

20 posted on 06/04/2012 4:37:34 PM PDT by BfloGuy (The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment.)
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