16 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 21, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens car dealerships settle over fraud
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A family of Queens auto dealers have
reached a settlement to refund money
to customers who fell victim to their
deceptive sales tactics.
According to Attorney General
Barbara D. Underwood, Nemet
Hyundai, Nemet Kia, Nemet Nissan
and Nemet Motors on Hillside Avenue
in Jamaica received a number of complaints
from customers regarding
unwanted charges, fraudulent sales tactics
and other deceptive moves that
misled consumers about their products.
An investigation into the dealers
found that they had performed the following
deceptive practices:
• Th ey added unwanted aft ermarket
items into consumers’ contracts without
disclosing the items or their costs
to consumers, without obtaining the
consumers’ consent, or by misrepresenting
that the items were required
by lenders;
• prevented consumers from having an
adequate opportunity to review their
contracts by making them wait for
inordinate periods of time, then rushing
them through signing their contracts;
• misrepresented their willingness and
ability to refi nance consumers’ loans
by making fraudulent promises to
refi nance the loans at specifi c future
dates for particular interest rates; and
• submitted falsifi ed credit applications
with infl ated income information for
applicants, ultimately obtaining loans
the consumer were unable to pay.
Underwood referred to a complaint
from Shauntel Wilson, a Brooklyn resident
who bought a car from a Nemet
dealership. Aft er the manager promised
to refi nance Wilson’s loan in six
months, which would drop her monthly
payments from $781 to $548, Wilson
complained that Nemet failed to deliver
the promised refi nancing.
Th e investigation found that Nemet
had secured Wilson’s loan by infl ating
her income on a credit application
by nearly $15,000 per year and slipped
$2,600 worth of undisclosed aft ermarket
products into her contract.
Th e settlement will give restitution to
those who were harmed by the dealer’s
fraudulent business practices.
Under the terms of the settlement, the
Nemet dealerships will refund $108,231
to 22 known consumers and will also
pay $56,250 in penalties to New York
state. Additionally, the management of
the dealerships agreed to modify their
employee training and hire an outside
monitor for at least three years to
ensure compliance with the settlement
terms.
Underwood encouraged anyone who
believes they were a victim of the dealer’s
practices to fi le complaints online
or call 800-771-7755 before the July 30,
2018 deadline.
“We have zero tolerance for those
who seek to defraud New York consumers,”
Underwood said. “Th is settlement
ensures impacted consumers
will get the restitution they deserve and
put an end to the dealerships’ deceptive
practices.”
NYPD going ‘all out’
to fi ght summer
crime in Jamaica
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Hoping to make Jamaica safer than ever
this summer, the NYPD is dispatching additional
offi cers to the precinct responsible for
protecting the neighborhood.
Th e 103rd Precinct is one of eight commands
across the city receiving reinforcements
during the fourth-annual “Summer
All-Out” program. According to the NYPD,
the commands patrol some of the city’s “historically
high crime neighborhoods,” and
the extra offi cers will help continue an overall
historic reduction in crime across the city.
“During summer all-out in 2017, the city
experienced signifi cant reductions in shootings
and murders in commands where additional
police offi cers were assigned,” the
NYPD noted in a June 14 statement. “In
2017 summer all-out commands, there was
a reduction of eight murders, down 30.8
percent, and 44 shootings, down 47.3 percent.”
Th e extra offi cers will undergo a one-day
refresher training course on neighborhood
policing and de-escalation techniques before
being sent out on patrol.
“Th e all-out offi cers will be deployed precisely
where the violence is still occurring.
Th eir professional presence is a deterrent to
crime. It also provides a measure of comfort
to residents of that neighborhood,” said
NYPD Chief of Department Terence A.
Monahan. “Th is is crucial because it doesn’t
matter if crime statistics are showing the city
is safe, and getting safer, even if every single
New Yorker doesn’t actually feel they
are safe.”
Th e 103rd Precinct includes Jamaica and
Hollis, covering an area generally bounded
by Hillside Avenue on the north, Francis
Lewis Boulevard on the east, Hollis Avenue,
109th Avenue, Brinckerhoff Avenue and
111th Avenue on the south, and the Van
Wyck Expressway on the west.
Th rough June 3, according to the latest
CompStat statistics on the 103rd Precinct
website, major crimes are slightly down in
the command, with 587 incidents reported
year-to-date, down from 592 through
the same period in 2017. Just one murder
occurred through the period (there had been
two cases through June 3, 2017), and there
were 13 rape cases, up from 10 last year.
While grand larcenies and auto theft s are
down, robberies and burglaries increased in
the precinct through June 3, the CompStat
report noted.
Fewer organic trash picks up in Ozone Park & Howard Beach
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Starting this summer, the Department
of Sanitation will be reducing its organic
waste collections in Howard Beach,
Ozone Park and South Ozone Park
from two days a week to just one.
Th e change aff ects residents in the
Community Board 10 area, which is
bounded by 103rd Avenue on the north;
the Brooklyn/Queens border on the
west; Jamaica Bay on the south; and the
Van Wyck Expressway on the east.
As of Monday, July 2, the DSNY will
only pickup organic waste in this area
on recycling day. Regular trash collection
will not change.
Th e DSNY instituted organic waste
collection in Community Board 10,
among other parts of Queens, last
year. Organic waste includes food
scraps, lawn cuttings, plant trimmings
and other easily biodegradable items.
Th rough the separate collections, the
Sanitation Department brings the
organic waste to compost heaps and
other facilities so it can be reused in an
environmentally friendly way.
Th e Sanitation Department indicated
that the practice saves the city millions
of dollars annually because it reduces
the amount of refuse that must be
hauled to landfi lls outside of New York
City.
According to the Sanitation
Department, the reduction aims to
accommodate “more effi cient” bulk
item collections throughout the area.
On trash pickup days, according to a
DSNY spokesperson, the department
dispatches trucks with split containers,
with organic waste deposited on
one side and regular trash dumped into
the other.
Because of the containers’ reduced
size, the spokesperson said, it’s become
more difficult for the Sanitation
Department to pick up bulk items —
such as furniture and household appliances
— left on the curb.
On the non-recycling collection day
each week, the DSNY will dispatch standard
collection trucks to take away bulk
items.
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