Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410170077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BASSETT LENGTH: Medium
When Katz finally got the vehicle for $19,100, the crowd applauded. Several people said he'd paid too much.
Katz didn't care. His hearing aid made it a little hard for him to understand the auctioneer, he said, but he got what he wanted - the black 1991 Gold Limited Edition.
The Martinsville retiree drove away in his new purchase, leaving behind his old blue 1991 Jeep and the comment that he might like Stone's car, but he didn't intend to put his money in trust with the bank where she used to work.
"I've been doing business with them a long time, but I don't have any $5.5 million to give away," he said.
Stone will be sentenced in November for embezzling $1.5 million from a Martinsville widow while she was a trust officer at Piedmont Trust Bank. FBI officers suspect she swindled nearly $5 million from the woman and used some of it to buy the six cars auctioned Saturday at Nelson Ford.
The Bassett dealership bought the cars in July. In addition to the Jeep, it got two 1988 Jaguars, a 1991 Dodge Stealth, a 1988 Tiffany and a 1984 Gazelle.
The "Rolling Stones," which is what a local TV personality called the collection, have been on display at the Nelson family's four dealerships ever since.
Some days, as many as 100 people came to gawk at the vehicles, said Barry Nelson, general manager of the company Some of the just-curious were in Saturday's crowd, but also in evidence were dead-serious car collectors such as Jimmy Adams, who really wanted the Tiffany.
"I've got to have a toy," he said.
The Bassett resident manages boxer Oliver McCall, who won the World Boxing Council heavyweight championship in September. But even with this success, Adams wanted the Tiffany at a competitive price, so he got Roanoke car dealer Bill Stephens to bid for him. Stephens, who owns General Import Sales & Service, already has helped Adams buy a Porsche, a Jaguar, two BMWs, an Explore and a Rolls Royce.
There was no Tiffany in the Adams garage Saturday night, however. Stephens stopped short of the $26,000 bid that won the Rolls Royce look-alike.
"Don't worry, we'll get you one just like it by Monday," he assured Adams.
The Tiffany, the 1984 Gazelle and the Jaguar XJ6 were bought by Martinsville resident Richard Martin, who said he just dropped by the auction, but "didn't come to bid."
His stopover cost him $50,200 and brought his car count to eight.
"It was fun," said Martin, who owns Computer Solutions Unlimited, which sells and services personal computers.
Bids on two of Stone's cars, a Jaguar convertible and the Dodge Stealth, were not accepted. The cars likely will be bought by dealers who had shown an interest in them earlier, Nelson said. "I doubt I'll auction them again."
One time around was probably enough for the cars he had billed as owned by the woman who "pleaded guilty to one of the largest embezzlement schemes ever in Virginia."
"There was a profit, though," he said.
by CNB