Corrie Jay Fitzsimon, 35, was sentenced in the Queenstown District Court last month to five months' community detention and ordered to pay $26,500 reparation after admitting a charge of obtaining a motor vehicle by deception.
Police say Fitzsimon's offending occurred while he was a self-employed mechanic in Christchurch, trading as CF Automotive & Engineering, in 2021 and 2022.
The victims, who initially took their Range Rover to Fitzsimon for repair work, later agreed to trade in the vehicle for a newer model, believing his claim he was a registered motor vehicle trader.
After months of Fitzsimon repeatedly lying to them and stringing them along, they were left without a vehicle and $5000 they paid him as part of the swap deal.
The couple went to the police after he failed to pay a $30,000 award ordered by the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal in 2023.
That decision slammed Fitzsimon for the "extent and audacity" of his offending.
"This is as clear a case of misleading and deceptive conduct as is imaginable in the context of the sale and purchase of motor vehicles," the tribunal's decision said.
Comments on a Facebook page titled `Corrie Jay Fitzsimon, people he has ripped off so let's find him', which has nearly 200 members, allege Fitzsimon owes more than $300,000 to creditors in the Christchurch area.
Fitzsimon told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he had repaid all his creditors, and claimed the people behind the Facebook page were friends of his ex-partner who were pursuing a vendetta against him.
After moving to Queenstown in 2022, he had worked for another business for about a year before starting a mobile mechanic business, Queenstown Automotive & Electrical, about 18 months ago.
"I've worked my arse off down here to get a good name, and just about everyone I do work for knows about the case . . . they've decided to continue using me because I've proven that we were good.
"Since I've been down here, I've not had one single issue."
However, he was planning to sell the business and move to Australia after completing his community detention sentence in May.
He had admitted his fault in relation to his offending in Christchurch, which occurred during a "really s... space in my life" when he had to close his business and deal with a break-up and the death of his father.
He had paid the couple reparation, and was trying to move on.
Judge Catriona Doyle said the starting point for sentencing was 15 months' prison, because of the number of transactions and "sleight of hand" Fitzsimon's offending involved.
She applied discounts for his guilty plea and expression of remorse, which allowed her to convert the remaining term of imprisonment to community detention.
Allowing him to keep working would help with his rehabilitation, and supervision would provide oversight to ensure he "stayed on the right track".
His offer to pay the victims reparation went "a long way to me accepting you truly are remorseful, and that the sentence I'm going to impose is appropriate".
"I hope this is the last we're going to see of you, and the court should now be able to have some confidence you've got the message that if you do this, you will be caught."
While on community detention he must abide by a curfew and wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
He must also undergo 12 months' supervision.
