Brian Fenner and Dennis Birkley were found guilty on all 15 counts including fraud and money laundering after a five-day federal trial in February 2023 for conspiring to exploit Indiana's mechanic's lien law to strip vehicle titles of bank liens and sell the vehicles for personal profit between 2013 and 2016, according to FOX 59 Indianapolis. The scheme left vehicle owners with debt but no collateral to return to the bank.
Operator takeaway
Guilty on all 15 counts for abusing the lien process — the mechanic's lien exists to protect operators who perform legitimate work, and abusing it produces federal fraud charges that can put you away for 20 years.