A Missouri man charged with selling an excavator he didn’t own for almost $33,000 was a no-show during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and a warrant was issued for his arrest.Forty-year-old Christopher Rhoades of Nixa, Missouri, listed the equipment on Craigslist and eventually sold it to a Baxter County man. Rhoades was alleged to have told the victim the machine was debt free.
However, the victim was told slightly more than $36,000 remained to be paid on the excavator. The news came from a company hired to repossess the machine. The equipment had been traced to the victim’s Baxter County address by a GPS tracking device. The victim was told Rhoades had not made a payment on the equipment since September 2017. Two payment were submitted after that date, but both checks were reported to have been returned due to insufficient funds.
The victim told authorities Rhoades had said he wanted to sell the excavator so he could buy another, larger piece of equipment.
Prior to the sale, the Baxter County victim made a call to the manufacturer and provided the serial number on the machine. He was told due to privacy laws, the manufacturer could not provide information concerning the financing status of the equipment.
In previous court sessions, it has been announced Rhoades has paid a substantial amount of restitution in the case, but still owes more to make the victim whole.
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