Petitioner: DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES
Respondent: EXPERT AUTO, INC.
Judges: SUSAN BELYEU KIRKLAND
Agency: Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Locations: Pompano Beach, Florida
Filed: Apr. 21, 2000
Status: Closed
Settled and/or Dismissed prior to entry of RO/FO on Wednesday, May 3, 2000.
Latest Update: Dec. 23, 2024
STATE OF FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHIC
BD
AP? e i p
DIVISION OF MOTOR VEHICLES
CASE NO. DMV-00-282
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY
AND MOTOR VEHICLES, DIVISION oe b -
OF MOTOR VEHICLES, 0 0 7 / 7 ae
: nee ae x Petitioner, oO 7 on : eee
vs. : License No.:
VI-27726
EXPERT AUTO, INC.
1221 South Dixie Highway
Pompano Beach, Florida 33060,
Respondent.
/
ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLAINT
The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, pursuant to
Rules 15-2.001 and 28-107.004, Florida Administrative Code, and Sections 120.60, and 320.27,
Florida Statutes, notifies the Respondent that, unless an administrative proceeding is timely
requested as stated below, the Department will suspend or revoke Respondent’s independent
motor vehicle dealer license.
I
SPECIFIC FACTS
In issuing this Administrative Complaint, the Department relies on the following
facts:
1. Respondent, Expert Auto, Inc., holds an independent motor vehicle dealer
license, number VI-27726, issued by the department pursuant to section 320.27, Florida Statutes.
~The address of the license is 1221 South Dixie Highway, Pompano Beach, Florida, 33060.
2. - On or about September 27, 1999, Respondent submitted an application t to
~ Petitioner for licensure as an .n independent motor 1 vehicle dealer. In part. the application
responded to a question regarding whether the applicant, any parttier, or any corporate officer or
director had been arrested on a felony or equivalent charge anywhere. The question was
answered in the negative. The application was signed by Marc DeGuicieis, President, on
, September 16, 1999.
previous arrests; Petitioner issued a license to Respondent on or about ber 8, 1999.
4. - Results of a fingerprint check and background investigation revealed that :
Mahommed A. Ghanem, aka Mike and a.k.a. Hamody was arrested ona sealed indictment bya .
Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1995 and
charged with a scheme and artifice to defraud for the purpose of obtaining money and property "
by false and fraudulent pretenses and promises and causing same to be transmitted in interstate
and Florida commerce by means of wire communications, constituting violation of Federal wire :
"fraud statute. These charges were subsequently dismissed on August 30, 1996.
: » charges were filed in
the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit i in and for Broward County, Florida, charging Mohammed Ali
Ghanem, among others, with RICO, “organized fraud, grand theft, insurance fraud, and cheating,
Upon dismissal of the federal charges the state charges were revised.
®
3. ~ “Tn reliance on the application and the answers to the questions regarding _
ep Po ORR RISES ee per
Cc
6. On October 9, 1996, the revised charges were ° filed i in the Seventeenth
J udicial ( Circuit Court in and for Broward County, Florida, charging Mohammed Ali Ghanem
and others with a total of 66 counts of RICO, insurance fraud, grand ‘theft, cheating, and
tampering with physical evidence. These charges ¢ are still pending.
STATUTES AND RULES VIOLATED
The above facts constitute violations of the following statutes and rules
administered by the department:
1. Section 320.27(9)(b), Florida Statutes — commission of fraud or willful
misrepresentation in making an application for or in obtaining a license.
; Il
ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING
Respondent has the right to request an administrative proceeding to be conducted
in accordance with Sections 120.569, 120.57 and 120.60, Florida Statutes, to be represented by
counsel or other qualified representative, to take testimony, to call and cross-examine witnesses
and have subpoena and subpoena duces tecum issued on its behalf if it requests a proceeding.
Pursuant to Section 120.60, Florida Statutes - Respondent is given twenty-one (21)
days notice by certified mail receipt of this action. Unless a request for an administrative
proceeding is received in in writing at the address listed below on or before the twenty-first (ist)
day following the service e of this complaint, this complaint will be deemed admitted by default
and such dealer will have its license suspended or revoked according to 0 the ellegations stated
above. Request for an administrative proceeding shall be sent by certified mail to the
Department at:
Mr. William T. Joyce, Director
Division of Motor Vehicles
Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
Neil Kirkman Building, Room B439, MS 60
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
The request shall include:
1. The name and address of the party making the request, for the purpose of
Regional Administrator
service.
2. A statement that the party is requesting either a formal or informal
proceeding.
3. A reference to this Administrative Complaint, dated this wa day of
March, 2000.
Pursuant to Section 120.573, Florida Statutes, mediation is not available for this
proceeding. :
lL f bran J : Ne Utee
WILLIAM T. JOYCE, DIRECTOR
Division of Motor Vehicles ©
Department of Highway Safety and
° Motor Vehicles
Neil Kirkman Building, Room B439
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
-. Filed in the official records of the |
Division of Motor Vehicles |
this 26 day of March, 2000. }
WTI;jc |
i
Copies furnished: |
Richard Owens
!
ot
Erwin Robcke
Assistant Bureau Chief
Dealer License Section
By certified mail to:
Expert Auto, Inc.
1221 South Dixie Highway
Pompano Beach, Florida 33060
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Docket for Case No: 00-001726