Vince Smith

A former manager of a Powell auto dealer is alleged to have stolen roughly $120,000 from the business and an individual between late 2021 and mid 2022.

Prosecutors accuse 58-year-old Vince Smith of keeping the proceeds from a half-dozen auto sales at Yellowstone Motors. In some instances, Smith is alleged to have simply pocketed customers’ cash. In others, he allegedly tricked buyers into wiring their money to his personal bank account rather than the dealership’s.

Following a lengthy investigation by Powell police, the Park County Attorney’s Office filed a felony count of theft in early January. Smith — who now lives in Oak Ridge, New Jersey — turned himself in Saturday night. He appeared in Park County Circuit Court Monday afternoon, and he was later released on what’s effectively a $1,000 bond. 

Deputy Park County Attorney Larry Eichele unsuccessfully argued for bond to be set at $10,000, citing the fact that Smith lives out of state.

However, Smith’s defense attorney, Brigita Krisjansons, said her client was clearly not a flight risk, noting he proactively made arrangements to turn himself in and drove back to Park County from New Jersey.

“He’s trying to do things right. He’s trying to get this taken care of,” Krisjansons said.

She also said Smith doesn’t currently have $10,000 to post as bail.

Charging documents allege Smith’s thefts came to light in the fall of 2022. In one October 2022 message to Yellowstone Motors owner Anthony Brownlee, Smith allegedly wrote that, “this is so bad that even things that started out as fixable mistakes are ugly and criminal.”

Smith reportedly added that he hoped the information he was providing “will help get a speedy guilty verdict and you can use that for [a] civil suit and perhaps recover something and/or use for [an] insurance claim.”

Smith worked at Yellowstone Motors for nearly three years, coming on as general manager when Brownlee acquired the business in November 2019. Brownlee told police that Smith was paid “handsomely,” but charging documents suggest Smith fell into a gambling addiction.

At Monday’s hearing, Krisjansons framed Smith’s actions as out of character and suggested they stemmed from a drug he’d been prescribed for his multiple sclerosis.

After falling “very ill” with the neurological disease, Smith “was put onto medication that has some very strange side effects on people’s dopamine,” Krisjansons said. “And while that might sound far fetched, indeed, Pfizer did settle for millions of dollars for not warning people what could happen on the same medication.”

“While that’s not an excuse, it does give the court some indication as to perhaps why this all occurred,” Krisjansons offered.

An affidavit written by Powell Police Investigator Chris Wallace in support of the case indicates Yellowstone Motors lost over $72,000 from Smith’s actions. Wallace’s investigation found that the business never received payment for four vehicles Smith sold and that he withheld a portion of a fifth sale.

Additionally, the documents suggest a New York man is out some $48,650 he paid for a 2022 Toyota 4Runner. That buyer, Ted Hirsch, said he thought he’d wired the money to Yellowstone Motors. However, charging documents say Smith instead directed the money to his own account.

Smith allegedly made the same account switch with two other buyers, collecting $41,895.08 for a 2022 Toyota RAV4 and $18,486 for a 2011 Ford F250. 

Hirsch’s case differs in that he ultimately did not get a vehicle from Yellowstone Motors. Hirsch says a 4Runner was shipped to him in New York, but he returned it due to damage and never got a replacement Smith had promised.

In a civil lawsuit he filed against Yellowstone Motors last May, Hirsch contends the dealership is vicariously liable for Smith’s fraud and should be required to repay the money he wired to Smith.

“The order and payment was with and to your dealership and the responsibility is squarely on your shoulders to make me whole by delivering the truck I ordered and was promised and I paid for,” Hirsch argued in an October 2022 email to Brownlee that Hirsch provided to the Tribune.

However, the dealership contends it owes Hirsch nothing. In its answer to the suit last year, Yellowstone Motors listed multiple defenses, including that Hirsch’s claims may be barred by him having “unclean hands” in the transaction or that his alleged losses may stem from “the acts or omissions of a third party or parties over whom [Yellowstone Motors] had no control.”

A trial is set for March in Park County Circuit Court.

In the criminal case, Wallace’s affidavit includes Hirsch’s payments to Smith among a total of $121,294.04 allegedly stolen from Yellowstone Motors.

While the three wire transfers represent the bulk of the money Smith is alleged to have taken, he’s also alleged to have pocketed $8,000 in cash that one customer paid for a 2007 GMC Yukon and a 2004 Honda Element in mid 2022. Additionally, Smith is alleged to have kept $900 from an $8,000 sale of a 2014 Honda CR-V.

The affidavit says Smith went to the Powell police station with Brownlee on Oct. 19, 2022. Smith invoked his right to an attorney, Wallace wrote, but allegedly mentioned that “he knows he will be going to jail at some point.”

A conviction on the pending charge — theft totaling $1,000 or more — is theoretically punishable by up to 10 years of prison time.

In arguing for his release from jail on Monday, Krisjansons said it would be “unreasonable” to hold Smith in the Park County Detention Center given his health conditions.

“He needs his medical care,” Krisjansons said, “and more importantly, if we’re supposed to get some sort of resolution for the victims, he needs to be out there trying to do what he can.”

While out on bond, Smith will need to obey the law and have no contact with Yellowstone Motors, among other conditions. His next court appearance will likely be an arraignment in Park County District Court, as Krisjansons said he will waive his right to a preliminary hearing.

(Editor's note: This version clarifies the headline and lead to reflect that some of  money is alleged to have been taken from an individual.)