After leasing a new car, Laura Halen expected that the salesman and dealer had already taken care of the Jeep Wrangler she traded in. To her surprise, instead of processing the trade, the salesman allegedly kept the Wrangler, lived in it, and racked up E-ZPass tolls and unpaid parking tickets on Halen’s dime, according to NJ.com. Halen even found herself with an arrest warrant for the unpaid tickets.
One of the biggest perks of trading in your car is that the dealer will handle all the paperwork and payments for any existing loan or lease agreement. Halen assumed that Fette Kia salesman Argenis R. Checo would return the Wrangler she traded to the local dealer she leased it from, as he said he would on May 20, 2024, when she made the deal. According to the lawsuit Halen later filed against Checo and Fette Kia, Checo did not return the Wrangler, but instead kept it for himself. After it became apparent to Halen that the Jeep had not been returned, she complained to Fette Kia, but they downplayed her claims, denying that Checo had done anything improper. At that point, Halen went directly to the police.
Checo was busted and fired
Verona, New Jersey, police caught up with Checo in July 2024. They found that all of Halen’s claims were true. Checo had, in fact, been driving and living in the Jeep, despite his claims to the contrary. At this point, Checo was charged with theft by unlawful taking. He pleaded guilty to this charge on May 12, 2025, and paid an assessed loss of $1,016. Faced with the evidence of Checo’s misdeeds, Fette Kia fired him. That only resolves the criminal case, however. Halen’s civil suit is still pending against both Checo and Fette Kia for negligence in supervising Checo.
Dealers employ some shady tactics at times to try to make a sale or make some extra money for themselves. The NJ.com story isn’t clear on whether Halen was waiting for her Jeep trade to be finalized before driving off in her lease, or if they sent her away in a new ride, which would make this a classic example of a “yo-yo” sale. Regardless, it’s pretty clear that the salesman and, by extension, the dealer, did not follow through on their end of the deal by failing to turn in Halen’s Wrangler as they had agreed to. In some states, it is illegal to sleep in your car, but even where it’s not, it should be your car that you sleep in — not someone else’s without their permission.
