Criminal Complaints filed by the District Attorney against the Shop

Criminal Complaints filed by the local District Attorney

We get a significant number of questions regarding the criminal aspect of surveillance and other undercover operations promulgated either by the Bureau of Automotive Repair or the local District Attorneyโ€™s office.

You see, the Bureau is pretty predictable. When they perform an investigation, gather evidence of โ€œunnecessary repairsโ€ or โ€œviolations of the Health and Safety Code,โ€ before they turn it over to the Attorney Generalโ€™s office they for license prosecution, they send it to the local DAโ€™s office.

Why? Because they know most shops donโ€™t have an option in hiring a Criminal Defense Attorney who understands the complicated principles of automotive repair and itโ€™s application to the Business and Professions Code, Health and Safety Code, and the California Code of Regulations. Most shops simply plead guilty to the allegations after a Criminal Defense Attorney who isnโ€™t familiar with automotive repair suggests to โ€œtake the dealโ€.

Now that the Bureau of Automotive Repair has a Criminal Conviction, the License Revocation proceeding is probably a slam dunk, depending on the charges the shop pled to, meaning the DA just did all the leg work for the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

What you should do

If you come up against this, hereโ€™s what you do โ€“ when served with a complaint from the local District Attorneyโ€™s office, developed and investigated by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, you call an Attorney with automotive defense law experience. One who knows how to defend and dissect the allegations, see what charges have been trumped up, and who can protect you from criminal allegations and your professional license.

-William Ferreira

Archives

Skip to content