Daniel Prince
Three separate cases are connected to the fraudulent sale of the same vehicle
A Buffalo man faces several charges surrounding the fraudulent sale of a vehicle on Facebook Marketplace. On December 6, Sgt. Naomi Bassett was dispatched to an address on Flat Drive in Buffalo regarding a larceny. She met with the victim, a Greenville woman, who stated she came to the address to buy a vehicle from Nicholas Lemons.
She stated she contacted Lemons on Facebook Marketplace after seeing a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu listed for sale. She said she offered him $4000 in a message, and he messaged back with a phone number to text. They exchanged messages and agreed to meet on Flat Drive. When she arrived there, Lemons was with another man, later identified as Dennis Bevis III. She stated Lemons wanted to get the license plate off the vehicle but did not have any tools, so they all went to Advance Auto Parts to get a tool. While there, Lemons tried to get her to give him all the money for the vehicle. She did not feel comfortable doing that, so she just gave him $20 so he could buy the tool. When they returned to Flat Drive, she stated Lemons began to clean out the car, and Bevis went inside to look for the title. She gave Lemons the cash, and he then went inside, saying he would check to see if Bevis had found the title. He then shut and locked the front door. The woman checked the vehicle, and it was locked, as well. She went to the house and knocked on the door, but no one answered. After several minutes, she called 911. She then received a message from Lemons stating she never gave him any money.
When Bassett arrived, she went around the house and found an open window at the back of the house. The homeowner arrived to find out why there was a deputy at her house. Bassett explained the situation to the woman, who stated there is no way the car can be sold because it is $2500 behind in payments and waiting to be repossessed. She stated she is the co-signer on the loan for the vehicle.
On December 15, an Aiken man came to the sheriff’s office to file a report regarding a larceny that took place on December 1. He stated that Dennis Ray Bevis III posted a 2016 Chevrolet Malibu on Facebook Marketplace for sale for $5000. After exchanging messages, the man agreed to pay Bevis $5000. They met, and the man gave Bevis the money. He said Bevis wrote a bill of sale and signed and dated it on the back of Bevis’s check stub. The man told Bevis he would have someone come with him to the residence on Flat Drive to pick up the vehicle. The man stated that once he had paid the money, Bevis stopped responding to his texts and calls and deleted the ad from Facebook Marketplace. He stated he went by the residence and Bevis was not there.
A third incident was reported regarding the same vehicle. A couple from Greensboro, North Carolina, met with Dennis Bevis and gave him $3640 for the car. Bevis signed the title and the couple left in the vehicle. When they were cleaning out the vehicle, they found a $100 bill inside that seemed to be counterfeit. They then found paperwork with Bevis’s criminal history on it, at which point they began to question the authenticity of the title. They discovered the title that was signed was a counterfeit SC title. They then contacted law enforcement. The deputy observed where the paper had a shadow on it like it had been photocopied. Upon further inspection, the deputy saw lines where it appeared the title had white out on it when it was photocopied. The title was confirmed to be counterfeit. When running the vehicle information, the deputy found out the vehicle was still under lien, as well.
24-year-old Dennis Ray Bevis, III, was arrested on Friday and charged with breach of trust/obtaining signature or property under false pretenses, two counts of obtaining money or property under false tokens or letters, and two counts of forgery.