A former finance and insurance director for Red Rock GMC in Grand Junction, Colo., has been charged with forgery, identity theft with intent to defraud and criminal impersonation after she allegedly pretended to be a customer seeking financing on a call to a credit union.
Tiffany Miller, 38, of Montrose, Colo., worked at Red Rock GMC from June 2022 to October 2022, and was arrested Aug. 7 for allegedly providing false information on a credit application for personal gain. Credit Union Direct Corp., of Greenwood, Colo., a financial technology provider to credit unions, was listed as a victim in the case.
The case comes six months after Red Rock Auto Group hired a former Colorado Board of Revenue investigator to oversee compliance after the state investigated its finance and insurance and advertising practices.
The case began in September 2022 when two customers went to Red Rock GMC to purchase a 2017 Dodge Durango. Shortly after, the customers received a call from Canvas Credit Union to confirm information on their loan application. The credit union told the customers they previously spoke with a man and a woman claiming to be the buyers who had Red Rock’s phone number listed on their credit application. The female customer said she was not a part of any such phone conversation; she said Miller’s co-worker, finance salesman Matthew Morris, was sending applications to more lenders to secure funding for their purchase.
While speaking with the credit union, the female customer noticed the loan application had incorrect information, including added features the vehicle didn’t have, such as running boards, rear seat entertainment, rear bucket seats and blind spot alert.
According to a Mesa County affidavit filed Aug. 2, Miller initially denied she was involved in these calls, saying the voice on the recordings belonged to someone named Tiffany who started working at the dealership after she left. Voice recordings of the call indicated that Miller called Credit Union Direct saying “This is Tif … ” before changing her name to that of the female credit applicant. Also during the call, Morris allegedly impersonated the man buying the car with the woman.
In an affidavit, Morris said impersonating customers was just part of the business and the store sales manager encouraged the behavior. Morris said he was terminated for getting caught, not for making the call.
But Bryan Knight, a minority owner in Red Rock GMC, told Automotive News the dealership does not condone its finance staff impersonating car buyers on the phone to lenders.
“We’re committed to honesty and integrity in every aspect of our business and our relationships with our customers,” Knight said. “That’s why when we learned of the alleged misconduct, we swiftly investigated and terminated their employment.”
He said Wednesday he wasn’t aware this had been happening and still hasn’t heard the recording of these calls that the police have as part of the investigation. He first learned of the situation when Credit Union Direct paused Red Rock GMC’s access to its dealer support system and contacted him Oct. 4, 2022. After hearing the allegations, Red Rock terminated Miller’s employment the next day, Knight said. Morris, who reported to Miller, also was fired.
Red Rock GMC is part of Red Rock Auto Group, which also has dealerships selling Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan vehicles.
On Oct. 20, 2022, the case was transferred to the Colorado Department of Revenue’s auto industry division for further investigation. In May 2023, the case was returned to the Grand Junction Police Department since the allegations were for “felony criminal activity,” the affadavit said.
Another issue involving Miller and Red Rock was that a dealership employee who allegedly falsified information on an employment application Miller submitted to the Montrose Police Department seeking work after she left the dealership. The application said she left Red Rock because the commute was too long; there was no mention of her being fired and why.
The Red Rock “employee who completed the verification form actually wasn’t authorized to make the statements contained in that form, but she filled it out anyway,” Knight said. “So we’ve had an ongoing investigation internally. We can’t necessarily discuss personnel matters, but we can say it was a violation of company policy on Ms. Miller’s end and the employee who filled out the form and we can say she’s been discliplined internally.”
This isn’t the first time Colorado State officials have followed up on complaints about the dealer group’s finance business, though the Colorado Board of Revenue auto industry division spokesperson said nothing was out of the norm. Red Rock in February hired Dale Sundeen to head compliance for its five stores after the state looked into its F&I and advertising practices.
“He’s training sales and finance guys on how to protect themselves and protect our customers on every transaction,” Knight told Automotive News in March. Sundeen will review Red Rock’s videos of all F&I transactions, he said.
“When he [Sundeen] was with the Department of Revenue, he knew about this [case] and still joined us to help us work through some of these issues and fix it,” Knight said.
The next step in this case is for Miller to hire a lawyer, said Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein.
He told Automotive News the district attorney’s office intends to file charges against Morris and has been in contact with his lawyer. “He immediately confessed,” Rubenstein said. “The next step with [Morris] is if he’s willing to cooperate and tell us if others were involved, especially if there’s anyone higher up in the organization [Red Rock].”
