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Finance
company operator arrested
The
official publication of the Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association The
president of an advance-fee finance company has been arrested on seven
felony counts. Kendra Bernal, of The Funding Tree (not to be confused
with The Lending Tree) and Integrity Group, was arrested May 31 in Riverside
County, CA. Under the two company names, Bernal offered financing of
commercial vehicles and other equipment. Bernal
faces six felony counts of taking money and personal property of a value
exceeding $400 and one count of engaging in the business of a finance
lender and broker without obtaining a license from the Department of
Corporations. The
complaint alleges Bernal operated without a license from September 2001
through May 30, 2002, and "took, damaged and destroyed property
of a value exceeding $150,000." The complaint listed money and
property taken from Freedom International, Luis Ojeda, Joe Diaz, Fernando
Hernandez, Diversified Sales and Service Corp., and Jose Martinez. Finally,
the complaint noted a violation of probation had been filed based on
these allegations. Bernal was serving a 60-month probation, which prohibited
her from receiving or accepting any type of money on behalf of her employer,
and from purchasing, selling, registering, transferring, leasing or
renting a vehicle without prior permission of the probation officer. The
latest charges came five months after the California Department of Corporations
issued a desist and refrain order in January. The order warned Bernal
and her companies to stop engaging in business as finance lenders or
brokers without a license in violation of the California Finance Lenders
Law. The same month, Land Line became aware of Bernal, after two OOIDA
members read Land Line's report about advance fee finance companies
and called in their complaints about Bernal. OOIDA
member Donny McCain paid The Funding Tree a $2,000 deposit Sept. 9,
2001, at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, for trailer financing.
McCain never received the promised financing, but REB Express, the company
where he was leased, put up the remaining $9,707 for the trailer. OOIDA
member Robert Kovalcin paid Integrity Group $8,795 in December 2001
for a down payment and fees for truck financing that never came through.
After months of telephone calls and complaints, Kovalcin finally received
$8,400 of his money back last month.
Rene Tankersley |
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