COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Whitehall car dealership owner pleaded guilty Thursday to rolling back odometers before selling cars to customers.

According to U.S. District Attorney Dominick Gerace II, 38-year-old Simon Nwaru Jr., who owned and operated S. Automative Ltd., was indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2025.

It is estimated that 60% of all vehicles Nwaru sold since October 2014 had their odometers tampered with or replaced to fraudulently show a false low mileage, Gerace’s office said.

A review of vehicle sales between January 2021 and January 2023 documented at least 300 vehicles that were sold to customers had their odometers rolled back, a plea agreement shows.

According to Gerace’s office, court documents show that Nwaru also listed false sales prices on documents subm

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