Stratford classic car restoration shop fined $95,000 in federal court for altering VIN numbers on car parts

MADISON – A Stratford-based classic car restoration firm was fined $95,000 and placed on three years’ probation last week for selling a car with parts altered to appear to be original to the collector vehicle.

According to federal court documents, Kuyoth’s Body & Custom Inc., owned by Troy Kuyoth, has bought, restored and sold cars since 1992. Collector cars are more valuable when all parts having vehicle identification numbers, or serial numbers, match the VIN assigned to the car by the manufacturer.

The vehicle that prompted the investigation was the 2022 sale of a 1970 Boss 429 Ford Mustang.

The car’s engine and transmission were not original to the vehicle, as their serial numbers were ground off and hand stamped with serial numbers that made the replacement parts appear to be original to the car.

Kuyoth’s then listed the car for $375,000, advertising it as a “numbers-matching” car causing purchasers to think they were buying an all-original car for which they’d pay a premium price, the documents said.

The car was sold but the buyer returned it a week later asking for a refund saying it wasn’t set up as a streetcar, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Grabber.

“These cars are often set up to race or for car shows and (the buyer) wanted a streetcar,” Grabber said after court March 13.

The buyer received his money back but later that year, state and local authorities searched the shop and seized several vehicles being restored for customers and other car parts.

The state decided not to prosecute Kuyoth’s but the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged the firm with tampering or altering a vehicle ID. A conviction carries maximum penalties of five years in prison, a $250,00 fine, restitution and three years’ supervised release if the defendant is an individual.

Troy Kuyoth wasn’t personally charged with the crime, his corporation was.

The corporation pled guilty to the charge in October, and the corporation and the government agreed the fine should be $95,000.

Kuyoth’s attorney, Catherine White, wrote the court that $95,000 was two-thirds of the corporation’s net income for the last fiscal year.

Although the intended victim received his money back, District Judge James Peterson agreed on the fine March 13, saying there was an intended loss of $95,000, the amount Kuyoth’s would have profited from the sale.

White, contended there was no need for probation as Kuyoth’s has ceased restoring cars and Troy Kuyoth is nearing retirement and wants to sell the business.

“He couldn’t restore cars even if he wanted to,” White told Peterson, as Kuyoth doesn’t have the tools or staff to do the work.

White further stated that probation would be unnecessary and burdensome on the business and possibly impede the sale of the firm.

Peterson disagreed, saying being a burden is an intended consequence of probation. He imposed three years’ probation saying it gives the court authority over the business if it returns to its past illegal VIN altering practice.

If the business is sold, the probation conditions would attach to the buyer, but Peterson said the business’s assets could be sold off instead.

The government agreed to return the Boss 429 Mustang to Kuyoth’s.

Kuyoth wasn’t in court on March 13 and instead had the corporation’s attorneys represent the firm.

Kuyoth opened a body shop in the back of his father’s repair shop and over the next 30-some years, he focused on classic and collector cars and car sales, White wrote the court.

The business expanded and he eventually took over the entire shop from his father, employing more than 30 people, “a sizeable number” for Stratford which boosts a population of 1,600, White wrote.

However, the business greatly contracted as news of the investigation and prosecution spread. Within a few years, the business lost half of its employees and those who remained received harassing phone calls from community members.

This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Kuyoth’s Body & Custom Inc. fined for altering VIN numbers on car parts