Police probe missing cars, cash from defunct dealership

CASTLE ROCK – The lot is empty and the doors are locked at Castle Pines Auto Sport. The owner is nowhere to be found. Angry customers want to know where their money and cars have gone.

The high-end dealership on Park Street is the focus of a joint investigation by the Castle Rock Police Department and investigators from the Auto Industry Division of the State Department of Revenue.

Dozens of customers claim Castle Pines Auto Sport owner Wayne Weaver took them for a ride.

Several customers tell 9NEWS that Weaver never delivered vehicles that were paid for or failed to pay-off trade-ins.

In the latter case, customers have discovered they are now holding two loans, one for their new car and one for their former vehicle, and their old cars are nowhere to be found.

One buyer told 9NEWS he lost $54,000.

The Department of Revenue says it is investigating 13 similar claims. Castle Rock Police are looking into 24 reports from disgruntled customers.

Investigators have not found Weaver. The phone answering system at the shuttered dealership says it is full and cannot accept new messages. Weaver's cell phone voicemail provides a similar message. No one answered the door at his home in Castle Rock Tuesday afternoon. A call to his attorney in Colorado Springs was not returned.

Calls to two other dealership employees were also not returned.

A next-door business owner who rents a lot from Weaver says he has not seen his landlord and cannot get in contact with him.

Castle Pines Auto Sport was a member of the Colorado Independent Auto Dealers Association until March when Weaver stopped paying membership dues, according to the group.

A sticker on the window of Castle Pines Auto Sport claims membership in the Southern Colorado Better Business Bureau. The BBB reports its file on Castle Pines Auto Sport is unavailable because it is being updated with new information.