Naperville auto dealership among string hit in scams

A 22-year-old con artist making his way across the country in high-end vehicles stolen during test drives, hit a Naperville Mercedes-Benz dealership in mid-June and is now believed to be in possession of a $100,00 Bentley stolen from a Florida dealership, police said.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Justin W. Durbin, of Oklahoma, who has made his way from the Midwest into Florida upgrading to a more expensive vehicle on each consecutive test drive, according to police.

“His ruse is he drives in with a very nice looking car and will come in, test drive a similar or ever-more expensive vehicle and say that he wants to have his father take a look,” Naperville Police Sgt. Gregg Bell said.

Police said Durbin, of Altus Okla., a rural southwestern town, showed up at Mercedes-Benz of Naperville, 1569 West Ogden Ave., on June 13 in a 2003 Mercedes SL 500 and took a 2003 Mercedes SL 55 AMG for a test drive with a sales associate.

He came back later that day and took the vehicle for another spin, telling the dealership he wanted his father to see the sports car before the purchase.

Durbin never came back. Police traced the SL 500 he left behind to a Fishers, Ind., dealership just outside Indianapolis, which came back as stolen.

From Naperville, Durbin cruised to suburban St. Louis, where he used his usual ruse to swipe a Mercedes SUV from an O'Fallon Mo. dealership on June 20, police said.

That SUV was found on the top floor of a downtown Naples, Fla., parking garage Tuesday after Durbin swindled his way into a 2007 Bentley GT Continental, valued at more than $100,000, police said.

Police said the Mercedes stolen from Naperville was valued at $33,993, and the vehicle stolen before that in Indiana was valued at around $20,000.

“He's making his way up,” Bell said. “I think he's going around the country right about now.”

A sales consultant at the Naples, Fla., Bentley dealership told the Naples Daily News that Durbin told an elaborate story about how his father had moved to Miami and wanted to meet with the dealer at a downtown Miami office.

The salesman parked the Bentley on the street to look for Durbin and his father at the office, and when he returned to the car after a fruitless search for the two, the Bentley was gone, according to the Naples Daily News report.

“If you drive up, in this case a 2003 Mercedes-Benz, and want to drive another, the dealer will look at that and say this guy is legit,” Bell said.

Durbin is described as 5-feet 11-inches tall, 150 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Police have recovered all three previously stolen vehicles, which are on their way back to the dealerships.