Cullman Car Dealer Indicted for Violating Legal Protections for Active Duty Service Members

Topics:  Carl Ralph Nuss, North Alabama Wholesale Autos

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Alabama
March 28, 2013

BIRMINGHAM—A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a Cullman used car dealer for violating federal protections for active duty military service members by refusing to reduce the loan interest rate and repossessing the vehicle he sold to a man who was later deployed overseas with the Alabama National Guard, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein, Jr.

A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Carl Ralph Nuss, 75, with violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The act restricts or limits civil actions in the areas of financial management, including rental agreements, security deposits, evictions, installment contracts, credit card interest rates, mortgages, civil judicial proceedings, and income tax payments, against service members called to active duty.

Nuss, owner of North Alabama Wholesale Autos in Cullman, sold a 2002 Ford Sport-Trac in February 2011 to the 22-year-old man. The dealership sold the vehicle for $9,746 and, after a $2,200 down payment, financed the balance at 25 percent interest per year, according to the indictment.

In May 2012, the guardsman, a private first class, was called to active duty in Afghanistan. In July 2012, according to the indictment, Nuss received a letter from the guardsman requesting that the dealership reduce the interest rate on his car loan from 25 percent to 6 percent, as required by the act. Nuss never reduced the interest rate and, two days after receiving the letter, hired two men to repossess the guardsman’s truck. The two men repossessed the vehicle without a court order, in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the indictment says.

The maximum penalty for each count is one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges, and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.