Nearly two months after Wyoming prosecutors accused a Utah car dealer of orchestrating a scheme to resell hundreds of hail-damaged Wyoming vehicles using fraudulent titles, the criminal case has advanced to district court.
After a preliminary hearing Monday, Scott Keith Pryor, 50, owner of The Good Car Dealer in Salt Lake City, was bound over on 15 felony counts of altering, forging or counterfeiting a certificate of title.
Laramie County Circuit Court Judge Antoinette Williams found prosecutors presented enough evidence for the case to proceed.
Each felony count alleges a violation of Wyoming's title fraud statute, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.
The charges stem from what investigators describe as an elaborate title scheme involving vehicles damaged during the historic August 2025 hailstorm that battered Cheyenne.
Pryor has remained free throughout the case on a $5,000 signature bond.
Nearly $2 Million In Vehicles
The affidavit filed by Wyoming investigators alleges Pryor purchased 292 hail-damaged vehicles with an estimated value of nearly $2 million after insurers declared them total losses.
Many were purchased through online salvage auctions operated by Copart.
Normally, vehicles sold through those auctions receive titles reflecting their salvage status or other branding intended to alert buyers that the vehicles sustained significant damage.
Investigators say Pryor instead sought duplicate Wyoming titles that removed those brands, allowing some vehicles to be sold for substantially more money than they otherwise could have commanded.
The criminal case centers on 15 vehicles investigators say were fraudulently retitled.
The Wyoming Department of Transportation ultimately identified numerous irregularities in title applications connected to the vehicles.
Among them, investigators allege, were forged signatures, counterfeit notary seals and fraudulent paperwork submitted in the names of previous owners.
Perhaps the most startling allegation involved paperwork purportedly signed by a Wyoming woman who had died weeks before the August 2025 hailstorm occurred.
Investigators allege another application listed a notary whose commission had expired years earlier.
'Tennessee Titles'
During an interview with investigators, Pryor acknowledged using a company he identified as "Tennessee Titles," according to the affidavit.
He told investigators he found the business through Facebook and paid approximately $150 for each title application.
According to investigators, Pryor identified the people he worked with only as "Rashard" and "Miss Catherine."
The affidavit says Pryor told investigators he simply submitted vehicle information and received paperwork back.
Investigators, however, allege the documents contained forged signatures and counterfeit notarizations that allowed duplicate Wyoming titles to be issued.
Those allegations remain unproven and will now be considered in district court.
At the time charges were filed in June, Cheyenne auto dealer Dallas Tyrrell said dealers were still dealing with the storm's aftermath.
"We see victims to scams like this all the time," Tyrrell told Cowboy State Daily.
A vehicle's title history can be every bit as important as its mechanical condition, he said, because it affects its value, financing and insurability.
"It's so important to use somebody that has a license and is reputable," Tyrrell said.
Customer Speaks Out
After Cowboy State Daily first reported Pryor's arrest in June, a woman named Brooklyn Arthur reached out to say she believed her own experience mirrored some of the allegations now playing out in court.
"I wanted to reach out because I was a customer of his too," Arthur wrote.
Arthur said she purchased a hail-damaged vehicle from Pryor in approximately September 2024, nearly a year before the Wyoming hailstorm at the center of the criminal case.
"He was very reassuring in the beginning, and there were no issues at first," she said.
"But once I never received the title, things got very sketchy."
Arthur said months passed without the paperwork arriving.
"I never received the title after 11 months of having the car," she said. "There was a duplicate title involved in the process,. He also mentioned getting the title from Tennessee, similar to what your article mentions."
Arthur's vehicle purchase is not part of the Wyoming criminal case, and prosecutors have not alleged her transaction was criminal.
Still, she said reading the charging documents immediately reminded her of her own experience.
Cowboy State Daily reached out Tuesday to Pryor’s attorney Thomas Garvie seeking comment on Monday's hearing as well as Arthur's account. He did not immediately respond.
Pryor has not yet entered a plea in district court. He will next appear for an arraignment.
Court records show the case is being prosecuted by William Joseph Edelman.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
