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SALT LAKE CITY — The owner of a Salt Lake car dealership is facing multiple felony charges accusing him of failing to deliver titles on cars purchased by customers because they were being held by a loan company that he owed money.
Robert Michael Hammers, 46, of Draper, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with 10 counts of communications fraud, a second-degree felony.
Hammers was the owner of Eurosports Automotive, 1940 S. Fremont Drive, which has since closed. The company advertised itself as a "pre-owned dealership … that specializes in used luxury models" with an inventory "always stocked with an impressive selection of top-quality cars and crossovers from brands like Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and many more."
But in charging documents, prosecutors allege "Eurosports Automotive has become a criminal enterprise in which Robert Michael Hammers has maintained the enterprise and conducted the enterprise through a pattern of unlawful activity."
The Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division received more than 50 complaints from customers about Eurosport's Automotive "for failure to deliver titles, along with issues of failure to pay off trade-in vehicles and payment of warranty contracts," according to the charges.
When questioned by investigators, Hammers allegedly told them his business "had become insolvent and ran out of funding." Eurosports Automotive was "floored" by two loan companies, the charges state. "Flooring" is a type of financing plan that allows dealerships to buy cars on credit and pay back the loan as those cars are sold to customers.
But Hammers did not pay the finance company despite selling multiple vehicles and did not deliver the titles to customers because they are still being held by flooring companies, according to charging documents.
Prosecutors list 27 customers in court documents who did not receive titles to the vehicles they purchased.
