HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The owner of a west Houston body shop was arrested after police said he used fraudulent mechanic’s liens to steal vehicles.
Talal Obeid was arrested on March 31, the same day Pure Performance on Windswept Lane was raided, according to officials.
The Houston Police Department said officers seized 9 high-end vehicles, including 7 BMWs, as well as $47,000 in cash.
In a post on social media, Houston police said they uncovered a “large-scale scheme” to move “stolen vehicles from California to Houston using fraudulent mechanic’s liens.”
Employees at the shop declined to speak to Eyewitness News on Monday afternoon.
A man that nearby business owners identified as Obeid emerged from the shop wearing a baseball cap and a scarf around his face, but refused to answer questions before driving away in a BMW marked “Pure Performance.”
In September, police said Obeid filed a notice of intent to obtain a mechanic’s lien on an AMG Mercedes, claiming he’d performed $63,000 worth of work on the vehicle.
But police say he provided no pictures of the alleged damage nor receipts for any of the parts he claimed to have purchased.
Police said when they asked him for his records on the vehicle on March 9, he told them he didn’t have them but insisted, “I do legit business.”
Eyewitness News found a Facebook group dedicated to customer complaints about Pure Performance.
ABC13 also discovered a pending lawsuit filed by VW Credit Leasing, claiming Pure Performance threatened to file a $60,000 mechanic’s lien on a car they’d leased to a California man. They said the shop wouldn’t present the work order authorizing repairs.
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.