Hey Repoman, I’ll Part It Out On Facebook
A Wichita Falls man behind on his truck loan allegedly sold parts to a nearly $12,000 Ford pickup on Facebook, keeping it out of the hands of a repo man, court documents showed.
Aaron Mark Johnston, 29, is alleged to have wrecked the 2003 F-250 and then sold its parts on The Original Wichita Falls Trading Post, according to court records.
Johnston was indicted on one felony count of hindering secured creditors for $2,500 to less than $30,000 since the bank could not seize its collateral, according to the Aug. 20 indictment.
He was free Wednesday from Wichita County Jail on a $15,000 bond, according to online jail records.
An affidavit for arrest warrant filed by the Wichita County Sheriff’s Office gave this account: About 1:30 p.m. March 19, a deputy arrived at Fidelity Bank in the 2500 block of Kell Boulevard.
An assistant vice president told him that Johnston had received a loan from the bank to buy the pickup.
On March 2, Johnston had a wreck in the truck.
A Wichita Falls police officer who investigated the accident issued Johnston a citation for failure to maintain financial responsibility.
Mike’s Towing Service towed the vehicle to its storage lot in the 3200 block of Industrial Drive.
Another bank employee emailed Johnston on Feb. 27, stating the loan was 71 days past due and payment was due immediately. Otherwise repossession proceedings could commence.
On March 11, Johnston told the bank employee that he had an accident and Geico would not cover it because of lapsed coverage.
He asked her what he should do to move forward.
She forwarded Johnston’s email to the bank’s executive vice president who, in turn, emailed Johnston the same day. He told Johnston that Mike’s towing was going to sell the pickup to cover the storage cost.
The bank executive VP also asked how Johnston was going to handle the debt owed to the bank since he didn’t have insurance coverage.
Johnston didn’t reply to the email. So the assistant vice president who had reported the incident to the sheriff’s office and another bank employee talked by phone with him.
But on March 13, Johnston got the pickup out of impound without Fidelity Bank’s authorization. Then he reportedly began to part out the truck through the trading post page on Facebook.
Among evidence bank employees provided was an email from the repo man for Mike’s Towing Service.
The March 22 email showed that Johnston had stripped the truck of parts and told the repo man, “good luck finding it.”