Woman Accuses Friend of Stealing Her Mercedes
Yana works as a makeup specialist at a beauty studio
Yekaterinburg resident Yana A. has accused her friend Dmitry K. of stealing her credit-financed Mercedes-Benz. For a year, she has been filing complaints with the police, but each time her request to open a criminal case has been denied. According to her, she hasn«t even been allowed to review the case materials. Eventually, she filed complaints with the Internal Security Directorate (USB) and the prosecutor»s office.
Roman let his friend Yana down badly, she claims
Dmitry, however, claims that he honestly bought the car, repaired it, but now may lose it because the woman hasn«t been paying the loan. Here are the details.
The car was repaired after colliding with a tree
Two Men, One Woman and a Mercedes
Yana«s former partner, a non-ferrous metals dealer named Roman, persuaded her to buy a Mercedes-Benz ML 350 4Matic on credit. He courted her lavishly, promising to set up her own business. He couldn»t take out a loan himself due to a poor credit history and because he needed working capital for his business. For a while, Roman used the car and made the loan payments. But then he started drinking, smoking, got involved with prostitutes, crashed the car, and stopped paying the loan. Dreams of a happy family life crumbled, and the couple split.
«Roman stopped paying the loan (80,000 rubles per month, ~$800 at current rates) and kept using the car. I called him, he was «stringing me along», saying he had no money and was sick, and then he blocked me. I turned to Dmitry, whom I«ve known for a long time. We»re from the same village,» Yana said.
Dmitry spoke with Roman, who agreed to repair and return the car. By agreement with the girl, Dmitry began using the Mercedes and making the loan payments. The agreement was verbal.
In February, the car was involved in an accident (it crashed into a tree). According to Yana, Dmitry was behind the wheel. He repaired the car at his own expense.
«Dmitry started freaking out that he was in debt because of me, suggested I pawn the car to get cash, but I refused. In the summer, I wrote to him asking him to return the car. In response, he demanded that I repay the money he had paid on the loan and spent on repairs, totaling 1.5 million rubles (approximately $15,000 at current rates). Alternatively, he said I should transfer my Volkswagen Polo to him, then he would continue paying the loan and keep the car. I said I would go to the police, and he started threatening me,» Yana claims.
Currently, under an agreement with the bank«s collections department, she is not paying the loan but must return the car — then the loan will be canceled. In her statements, she accuses Dmitry of fraud by abuse of trust. She expresses the opinion that he has friends in the police who help him avoid responsibility.
According to her, Dmitry allegedly copied her signature and forged the Mercedes purchase agreement.
She also points out that several years ago, Dmitry, as director of a car dealership, embezzled 8 million rubles (approximately $80,000 at current rates) from client funds and was convicted of embezzlement (the court records indeed contain a full namesake of his. — Editor«s note).
Dmitry claims that he himself is the victim.
«Got Problems Because of My Kindness»
«The police issued a denial because I bought the car from her and transferred the money. They summoned me for questioning, and I provided all checks and receipts. Those transfers are preserved — to her card. Thank God I didn«t pay cash. There are audio recordings. But she didn»t spend the money on the loan; it turned out she flew to Sochi, squandering it. And now people have started advising her on how to avoid paying the loan,» Dmitry told E1.RU.
He says it«s Yana who now owes him. And she allegedly promised to repay the money by selling another personal car. But instead, she disappeared — stopped answering calls.
«So it turns out I helped her, invested in repairs, transferred money to her for the car. And now the bank can take my Mercedes because she didn«t pay the loan. We still have to pay the bank for the car to legally transfer to us,» Dmitry explained.
Dmitry claims that in the last accident, he was not driving — Yana was.
«I understand everything; she had a difficult situation. I wasn«t going to sue her. We»re from the same village; we knew each other. I was ready to turn a blind eye. But when the police came, I found out she hadn«t been paying the loan. So we»re going to court. It turns out we lost all the money. I was helping her; she was dating that guy, he stole her car, crashed it, threatened her. We got the car back, fixed it. Because of my kindness, I ended up with nothing but problems,» Dmitry explained.
In December last year, the prosecutor«s office overturned the decision to deny opening a criminal case. The materials were sent to Police Department No. 13 for additional review. The Internal Security Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is also conducting its own investigation.
«During the review of the citizen«s complaint, no elements of a crime were found. Therefore, a decision was made to deny opening a criminal case. Currently, an additional review is being conducted, based on which the police will make a reasoned decision,» reported the Yekaterinburg City Police Department.
Earlier, we reported how in Yekaterinburg, Caucasians «seized» a black BMW from a local resident over his friend«s debt. A case was opened under the article »Robbery,« and the main suspect is in pretrial detention.
