Appeals court issues mixed ruling in North 95 case

SANDPOINT — Idaho’s appeals court issued a mixed ruling Wednesday in the case of a former Ponderay car dealer convicted of ripping off customers and bilking company funds.

The court affirmed judgments against Arnold Albert Dreier Sr. for single counts of racketeering and failing to deliver certificate of title and a vehicle, and two counts of grand theft for pocketing money customers paid for extended warranties which were never effected.

The court vacated three additional theft counts, which stemmed from allegations that Dreier embezzled funds from North 95 Sales, according to the appeals court’s  unpublished opinion.

Dreier, 69, was convicted of the seven felony counts following a jury trial in Bonner County in 2005. He was sentenced to concurrent one- to five-year prison sentences and has since been paroled, Idaho Department of Correction records indicate.

Dreier’s 36-year-old son, Cody, was also implicated in the scandal, but took a plea deal which winnowed the charges against him to lone counts of grand theft and failing to deliver title. He was sentenced to up to four years in prison, but qualified for release after serving six months.

The duo operated the used car lot off U.S. Highway 95 until it went out of business in 2003.

The state alleged the business ran into serious financial troubles in 2002 and owed a substantial sum of money to “flooring” companies, which extended credit to North 95 Sales so it could purchase inventory.

The Dreiers decided to pay corporate expenses with funds customers paid for extended warranties, the state argued. In some cases, titles were not delivered to customers who bought vehicles because the flooring companies were not being paid. The state further alleged that the senior Dreier had deposited corporate funds into his personal banking account.

Arnold Dreier argued on appeal that insufficient evidence had been presented to sustain convictions and called for the judgments to be vacated.

He asserted that the warranty-related theft convictions should be overturned because his son, who testified against him at trial, was an accomplice and the lower court failed to instruct the jury that his testimony must be corroborated.

The higher court disagreed, ruling that the defense had invited the error by agreeing to the jury instructions.

The appeals court also rejected the elder Dreier’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to support a judgment that he had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by pocketing two buyers’ warranty payments. It also dismissed his claim that there was no evidence showing he intended to deprive the city of Sandpoint of titles to two vehicles purchased from the doomed business.

But as for the charges Arnold Dreier had committed theft by channeling vehicle sale proceeds into his own bank account, the appeals court found that Cody Dreier consented to the arrangement in order to dodge a lien placed on North 95 Sales’ corporate account.

“Undisputed evidence shows that they agreed that the money from sales proceeds was to be placed in Dreier’s bank account to avoid a lien,” Judge David W. Gratton wrote in the 11-page opinion.

Chief Judge Karen L. Lansing and Judge Darrel R. Perry concurred.