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Inquiry help trims prison term

A used car dealer gets six months in jail for help with an organized crime investigation.

By BILL COATS
Published June 1, 2006

BRADENTON - Shortly after FBI agents swarmed into several ValuCar used car dealerships six years ago, word spread that the chain might have Tampa mob connections.

On Wednesday, those alleged connections helped the head of ValuCar escape an extended prison term for grand theft. A Manatee County circuit judge made note of Nelson Valdes' cooperation in organized crime investigations, and sentenced him to six months in jail plus five years' probation and up to $550,000 in restitution.

Valdes had pleaded no contest in August to a scheme that stalled payments ValuCar owed to Ford Motor Credit Corp. for financing its inventory of used cars. ValuCar was obligated to repay Ford Credit for each car loan within 72 hours of selling the car. Investigators said Valdes directed ValuCar employees to conceal the sales for as long as 90 days, allowing ValuCar to keep the money longer.

At one point, Ford Credit was missing more than $3-million. It also could not account for 200 vehicles from ValuCar lots in Tampa, Bradenton, Lakeland and Port Charlotte.

Judge Ed Nicholas said he was struck by "the extremely different characterizations of culpability here" between opposing lawyers. Valdes, Nicholas said, was either "a nefarious thief with ties to organized crime who engaged in long-term theft of millions of dollars," as the prosecutor described him, or "a lousy businessman who overextended himself excessively, but not in an effort to make himself rich or line his own pockets," as Valdes' lawyer argued.

Valdes, 46, admitted hiring Vincent LoScalzo of Tampa. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement contends he replaced Santo Trafficante Jr. as a local mob boss, an accusation he has denied.

Valdes said he had known LoScalzo since childhood and "he never did anything illegal in front of me."

LoScalzo had loaned Valdes $25,000 and earned $104,000 a year as inventory manager at ValuCar, Valdes testified.

Later, Valdes helped the FBI investigate LoScalzo by wearing a concealed listening device. An FBI agent testified Wednesday that Valdes cooperated in investigations of organized crime, political corruption, money laundering, securities fraud and bankruptcy fraud. He said an investigation involving some information from Valdes is still under way.

"I placed my life and my family's life at risk in doing so," Valdes said in a letter to Nicholas. He said law enforcement officers urged him to protect his family by moving out of his $1-million bayfront home in Apollo Beach. He moved to New Tampa's Cory Lake Isles in 2004.

But prosecutor Mark Campbell disputed the value of Valdes' help. No charges have resulted from Valdes' information, and the FDLE's case agent said Valdes' sentencing closes the ValuCar case. Campbell said investigators interviewed "about two dozen others whose testimony directly contradicted that of Mr. Valdes."

[Last modified June 1, 2006, 04:59:36]