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Toronto, October 09, 1998 - In
an era when courts seem
reluctant to sentence the guilty
to time behind bars, a stern
message was sent to curbsiders
when a Markham, Ont., woman was
sent to prison for carrying on
business in violation of the
Motor Vehicle Dealers Act
(MVDA).
Susan Ethel Dookhoo, 28, a.k.a.
Susan Carney or Ethel Ruby
Carney, pleaded guilty on
October 2nd to one charge of
selling vehicles without
registration as prescribed in
section 3(1)(a) of the MVDA.
Today, Justice of the Peace
James Allen of the Ontario
Court-Provincial Division
imposed on her a term of
forty-five days behind bars.
In Ontario it is an offence to
sell vehicles without
registering under the Motor
Vehicle Dealers Act. Those who
do so, are known within the
industry as curbsiders, and
subject to prosecution.
Violations of this provincial
statute are subject to up to
$25,000 per count and/or a
maximum of one year in prison.
Ms. Dookhoo was charged on April
3rd of this year by Investigator
David Wagner of the
Investigations Office of the
Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry
Council (OMVIC). The charges
related to three vehicles sold
by this individual to unwary
consumers. In selling the
vehicles, Dookhoo
misappropriated legitimate
dealers’ registration numbers in
order to transfer the vehicles
at the Ministry of
Transportation.
When handing down the sentence,
Justice Allen stressed that he
had no choice but to impose a
term of incarceration on Ms.
Dookhoo, who was then handcuffed
and taken out of the courtroom.
According to Carl Compton,
Registrar under the MVDA, “All
too often, consumers are duped
by curbsiders who sell stolen,
rebuilt or odometer-tampered
vehicles, or vehicles which have
liens against them. By the time
the consumer realizes that
they’ve been ripped-off, the
curbsider is long gone.” Compton
believes that the jail sentence
will serve as a warning to
curbsiders that the courts are
taking a no-nonsense approach to
consumer protection, and the
practice of curbsiding will not
be tolerated.
The Ontario Motor Vehicle
Industry Council is an industry
self-management body created by
the Honourable David Tsubouchi,
Minister of Consumer &
Commercial Relations. OMVIC was
delegated responsibility for
administering the Motor Vehicle
Dealers Act in January of last
year. Since that time, OMVIC
investigators have laid over 600
charges under the MVDA or the
Business Practices Act.
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