DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010089

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  107 lines

USED VEHICLE, ALSO STOLEN, TAKES BUYER FOR A RIDE POLICE SEIZE THE CAR, BUT A BEACH MAN IS STUCK WITH PAYMENTS.

In 1995, Navy lieutenant and triathlete Rich Nalwasky wanted a four-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicle.

Nalwasky, 30, believed he needed the vehicle's size, ruggedness and flexibility to accommodate both his vocation and avocation. But he did not want to pay $45,000 to $50,000 for the four-wheeler, so he turned to the newspaper classified ads.

Soon Nalwasky, a supply officer at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, had entered the Automobile Twilight Zone.

Since November 1995, he has paid $700 a month for the car loan that he took out to pay for the 1994 Toyota Land Cruiser. But since February 1996, he has had no car to show for it.

Virginia State Police confiscated the vehicle in February 1996, three months after Nalwasky bought it. The Virginia troopers were tipped by the Maryland State Police that the vehicle might have been stolen. It turned out that the Maryland police were right.

When that occurred, nothing protected Nalwasky. Not the titlesearch, which allowed him to purchase the vehicle legally; not the insurance company that covered the car; not the newspaper that advertised the product.

Now it turns out that not even the courts can provide Nalwasky with any avenue to recover his money.

``There wasn't really any option,'' Nalwasky said recently during an interview. ``All (the bank) wants is their money. So, basically, there was no place for me to turn. It was pay or else. So that's what I have been doing. Coming on two years.''

Judge William L. Forbes ruled earlier this year in Virginia Beach Circuit Court that Nalwasky be repaid for the phantom Toyota by the man who sold it to him.

But he has yet to receive anything. And he never expects to.

Nalwasky believes he will have to continue paying on the loan for at least another two years, or until he retires his $29,465.87 debt.

``Your insurance doesn't cover something like this,'' Nalwasky said.

The villain in this scenario is hard to determine. According to court documents, in August 1995 a man named Carlos Reese approached Casey Honda/BMW in Newport News with the 1994 Land Cruiser and tried to sell it. Hugh B. Casey, who worked at the dealership and is a second cousin of the dealership's owner, eventually agreed to buy it.

Although the dealership did not purchase the vehicle, it arranged an ``accommodation sale'' for Hugh Casey. The dealership's name appears on the title as having purchased the vehicle from Carlos Reese.

``If somebody in upper management had been aware of what was going on, it would have been stopped,'' Art Casey, owner of Casey Honda/BMW, said in a recent interview.

Art Casey said the dealership elected not to buy the vehicle even though an auction house told the dealership that the title was clear. The auction house, however, also indicated to the dealership that there was a ``history'' on the title, which was a red flag. When a car title has a history, Casey explained, that means there may have been questions about the legality of ownership in the past.

``We elected not to buy it because there was a history on the title,'' Art Casey said.

After buying the Land Cruiser for about $28,000, Hugh Casey advertised the vehicle in the newspaper and found a buyer in Nalwasky, who paid about $37,000. The transaction netted Casey a quick $9,000 profit.

Three months later, Nalwasky found the business card of a special agent with the Virginia State Police in the door of his condominium off Shore Drive in Virginia Beach.

Eventually, the agent and another trooper showed up on Nalwasky's doorstep, warning Nalwasky that his new Toyota might be stolen.

Moments later, the two troopers found that both vehicle identification numbers - one on the windshield and the other in the wheel well - had been altered.

``It was done in a way that could not be detected except by a trained eye,'' Nalwasky said.

The troopers told Nalwasky that they were going to impound the vehicle.

But, ``I didn't think it was going to be gone forever,'' Nalwasky said.

The Toyota eventually was returned to the person from whom it was stolen.

When Nalwasky realized that the Toyota was never to be returned, he filed suit in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, asking that Hugh Casey and Casey Honda/BMW pay Nalwasky more than $150,000 in actual, punitive and incidental damages. Eventually, Nalwasky dropped his request for damages, asking only that he be paid back for the cost of the car, plus interest.

Hugh Casey, who has since quit working for the Peninsula dealership and moved to Louisiana, also sued the dealership. But Judge Forbes dismissed both claims against the dealership.

The ruling leaves Hugh Casey as the only person from whom Nalwasky can attempt to get any money. Neither the car dealership nor Carlos Reese are liable, according to the ruling.

Nalwasky's attorney, Mitchell D. Broudy, is not optimistic.

``It would be very difficult now that (Hugh Casey) is living out of state to proceed against him,'' Broudy said. ``It doesn't look good.''

In the end, Broudy said, Casey could avoid paying by declaring bankruptcy.

Nalwasky's case is a good argument for some kind of title insurance for automobiles, Broudy said.

``The general consumer doesn't understand the risk involved in purchasing a used car,'' Broudy said. ``When you buy a house, every lending institution requires title insurance because they want to make sure they own the property. It seems to me that when cars cost $30,000 or $40,000 or $50,000, and you are buying on the used market, there ought to be some kind of title insurance.''

For Nalwasky, the lesson he learned was an expensive one.

Winning in court is one thing.

``But it doesn't mean anything,'' he said, ``until you have the cash in hand.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

TAMARA VONINSKI/The Virginian-Pilot

Rich Nalwasky won a court ruling against the seller of the car, but

he doesn't expect to ever collect.

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