Charges: Man swindles dealership for $200K car despite negative bank account

(FOX 9) - A man with a negative balance in his bank account is charged with theft by swindle after conning a Minnetonka dealership out of a nearly $200,000 luxury vehicle.

Zachery James Wojcik, 25, of Bloomer, Wisconsin, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years and/or $100,000 as part of the scheme that saw a vehicle delivered, but a check that never cleared.

On August 15, 2022, police responded to a car dealership in Minnetonka that stated a customer had ordered and received a high-end vehicle for $195,747.32, while providing a check for payment that they found to be fraudulent. 

According to the complaint, Wojcik first contacted the dealership in January of 2022, and they corresponded throughout five months to specially order the vehicle. Wojcik told the dealership he planned to register the vehicle under his company name, Wojcik Investments, LLC, according to the filing. 

Once the vehicle was near shipment, he told the dealership he would pay with a cashier’s check, and took possession of the car on July 28, 2022. 

For payment, he provided a post-dated check for Aug. 1 from a Chase Bank in Wisconsin issued by Wojcik Investments, but the check returned for non-sufficient funds on August 2, 2022.

Initially he told the dealership he was switching banks, from Chase Bank to Huntington Bank, and that the funds weren’t available for that reason. According to police, from Aug. 2-15, he made repeated claims that the funds were being wired, including statements like, "the funds were released from my account," and "it should have arrived yesterday." At one point he stated he had, "double and triple checked everything at Huntington."

However, when police searched his Chase Bank records they determined there were never enough funds in his account to issue the check. In fact, a current account ended with a balance of -$571.68 on July 28, 2022 – the same day he provided the post-dated check for the vehicle. 

Police also determined he never had a Huntington Bank account.

Wojcik has multiple felony convictions in Wisconsin already, including credit card fraud, identity theft, theft and issuing a worthless check.

He was most recently charged with issuing false checks in Eau Claire County and is currently in custody in Eau Claire County Jail.