Written by ronsanders1 Tuesday, 28 July 2009 19:37
Madisonville, KY - As a result of Kentucky State Police investigation into the Browning Automotive Group management 21 indictments have been filed by Commonwealth Attorney David Massamore. All are Class D felonies punishable with 1-5 years incarceration for each.
The investigation was led by Detective Lonnie Kavanough of the Kentucky State Police. Indicted were Bruce Browning, Terry Browning, Joshua Browning, Christopher Browning, and Sheila Moutabier. The charges are 13 counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $300 and 8 counts of theft by deception.
Bruce Browning and family members were regarded as one of Western Kentucky's leading automobile dealerships supporting many regional charitable events. The abrupt closing of the dealership leaving employees unpaid and sold vehicles without clear titles led to complaints and the investigation.
Earlier iSurf Breaking News June 3 2009: Madisonville, KY - Serious men with serious guns loading boxes does catch your attention. Such was the case at 1:30 p.m. at a building on North Franklin Street in Madisonville Wednesday afternoon. The men, all Kentucky State Police in plain clothes, were loading at least two truckloads of records from storage.
It was clear that the records were of Browning Chevrolet. The senior officer, Detective Lieutenant Micky Hatmaker, said that they were acting on a warrant as part of their criminal investigation of activities at Browning. Lt. Hatmaker could not divulge the contents of the warrant; but, it was clear they were taking boxes and boxes of records from storage. The markings on boxes indicated there were records of car transactions and "deal sheets." Records were stored in the Browning Chevrolet Body Shop Office.
Lt. Hatmaker, a 16 year veteran with Kentucky State Police, said that the search warrant will be made public in the normal course of information. Since this is an ongoing criminal investigation "It is not wise to discuss the case" he said. "This case is being given high priority".
That was certainly evident by the manpower on site. At least five agents were on scene. The State Police have been on the case for at least three weeks. The case could be ready for the grand jury within a month at the earliest. Exact timing will, of course, depend on what the investigators find in the massive information to be sifted through. At least 117 calls or complaints have been recieved by Commonwealth Attorney, David Masamore.
(Photo: of the investigative team from the Kentucky State Police loading one of the two trucks needed to transport siezed customer files from Browning Chevrolet by iSurf News)
Lt. Hatfield has been at Post 2, Madisonville since November. When asked by ISurf News what people can do to protect themselves from situations like Browning, Hatfield said: "These victims did nothing wrong. No way!"
Carolyn Rainwater of the Hopkins County Clerks office said that approximately 88 car title problems with Browning had been "taken care of" with more cases pending.
(Photo: iSurf News Ron Sanders interviewing Detective Lieutenant Micky Hatmaker of the Kentucky State Police at time warrant was executed.)
iSurf News will continue to follow this case and bring information as it is available.
Ron Sanders, iSurf News
(Photo: By iSurf News of Kentucky State Police siezing records after executing a warrant to do so 6/3/2009 at 1:30pm)
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