Oregon

Auto Link’s former owner, Dave Edmonds, who is under investigation for fraud, theft, and bad business practices, had his dealer’s license suspended early this year.  Police served search warrants and seized evidence to support their investigation as Dave blamed it on a faulty economy and that it wasn’t his fault that the customers of Auto Link weren’t getting paid, because he sold the business earlier that year.

In looking deeper, the 85-year-old woman, who had no idea she owned a dealership in Gresham became the focus.  Who was this woman?  After further investigation, we have learned that she is Dave’s office manager, Gaylene Kendall’s mother.  Gaylene and Dave convinced her to sign papers and loan Dave Edmonds $50,000, which they would pay back with interest.  The papers she was signing were actually transferring ownership of Auto Link out of Dave Edmonds’ name, and into hers.  Gaylene Kendall, who refuses to cooperate with investigators, reportedly told a former employee that she loved Mr. Edmonds, and would do anything for him.  Does that even mean selling your mother and taking the fall for Mr. Edmonds’ illegal activity?  This just shows the kind of power that Dave Edmonds had the ability to cloud people’s perception with.

So, what’s going on today in the Tale of Two Dealerships?

Dave Edmonds still maintained and ran his auto body shop after the investigation started, but over the weekend of November 22-23^rd, 2008, the name Auto Link has been painted over, and witnesses saw people loading up equipment and boxes onto Dave Edmonds’ super flashy tow truck, and now the building stands empty and is no longer closed for business.

It is also being reported that Mr. Edmonds is no longer taking the main streets of Gresham to and from his home in Boring because he is worried about being followed and arrested.

Also, Dave’s wife, Susan Edmonds’ bright red Porsche has been reported for sale on the showroom floor of All Cars, formerly Auto Link, and now run by Dave’s sister.

As the plot thickens for Mr. Edmonds, we will all be watching.  Because of the families he has hurt over the years, we will be reporting the story.

Four days after Auto Link, formerly owned and operated by Byron David Edmonds, who goes by Dave, was raided by police, it reopened as All Cars under new ownership.  Who is the new owner?  Linda Bacon, Mr. Edmonds’ sister.

Unsure of why customers are unwilling to do business at the former Auto Link site, Linda can’t believe that people are comparing her to her brother, and not even giving her a fair chance to run an honest business.  Apparently, it did not occur to her that she would have to overcome the shadow left looming over her by Dave Edmonds.  Did she really think no one would notice, or is there a twist to this ‘tale of two dealers’?

Let’s look at the facts, shall we?  Mr. Edmonds owned Auto Link and did a poor job of taking care of his customers and employees.  Loosing his dealer’s license earlier this year, he was still acting as owner and operator of Auto Link up until the day that he stood face to face with Thom Jensen of Channel 2 News.  After stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers, racking up complaints with the Better Business Bureau, DMV, and the Justice Department, and using tactics that stray from being legal, Dave Edmonds believed that he was above the law, even planning what he would say to police before they ever arrived.  When the spotlight was on him, he suddenly blamed his failure on a downed economy, and claimed that he sold the business, and that he was out more money than the customers.

Then we find out that the person he sold the business to was an 85-year-old woman, who had no idea she owned a dealership in Gresham, Oregon.  Is that fraud in the air, or just evil?

Suddenly, out of the blue, it’s like that never happened, and Mr. Edmonds’ sister is now the one doing business on the lot formerly known as Auto Link.  Wait…within a week, Auto Link was no more, painted green, emptied out, and reopened?  Who owns it now?  Mr. Edmonds?  The poor dooped elderly Mrs. Parker?  Mrs. Bacon?  Mr. Edmonds?  Santa?

Also, the new business, All Cars, which is on the exact lot where Auto Link went down like the Titanic, has changed its address from the former 22221 se Stark St, to 415 se 223^rd Avenue.  Strange that if this was such an honest business that it would have to have a brand new address.

All Cars is also using all of Auto Link’s forms, with Auto Link crossed out and All Cars written in its place.  Are the same tactics that resulted in Mr. Edmonds’ demise still being used?  The same people that used them for Mr. Edmonds are now under Mrs. Bacon’s employ.

Is there an old dog with a suspended license hiding in the shadows of it all?  Is his sister the new trick?  How are we supposed to trust this strange new dealership with such close relations to the old one that hurt people so badly that they’re loosing their homes?  Where is Mr. Edmonds?

Only time will tell, but I’m sure the world will be watching to see the future of Mr. Edmonds and if the new dealership All Cars really is on the up-and-up.  For now, he is running his Auto Body shop on 818 E Powell Blvd in Gresham, which, by the way, has an unsatisfactory rating with the Better Business Bureau for the exact reasons that Auto Link does.   Maybe it’s true that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks after all.

Friends and family gathered at Wood Village Baptist Church tonight, November 19, 2008, to remember the life of Amatha Mendive-Boyle.  Amatha was found murdered on Friday, November 14^th, 2008.  An employee of a business next door discovered her body Saturday morning in a dumpster behind the Freedom Foursquare Church on the corner of SE 162^nd Ave and Alder.

Residents of the neighborhood report that they heard screaming and gunshots at the time of Amatha’s murder, but didn’t call the police because they were so used to hearing those sounds.

Though Amatha had a colorful past speckled with drugs and prostitution charges, friends and family gathered tonight to remember the Amatha that they loved.  Amatha was a mother, a sister, a daughter, a cake decorator, and a good friend to those who knew her.  Amatha was 37 years old.

Anyone with any information about the murder of Amatha Mendive-Boyce is asked to contact Detective Mark Sponhauer at 503.823.0416 or Detective Ken Whittam at 503.823.0697.  Please help bring her killer or killers to justice so that her children can have peace.

Michael Patrick Carey, most say, was a good man, a good father, and just a regular guy.  Halloween night, 2008, Michael Carey took his nine-year-old son trick-or-treating, then went to KC’s Midway Bar and Grill in Oregon City, Oregon with one of his friends.  After a night of fun and friends, Michael Carey stood outside with his friend waiting for a ride.  It seemed like an ordinary Friday night, except for the random people still in costume from Halloween.

Michael Carey’s life was cut short Halloween night, 2008, outside of KC’s Midway Bar and Grill in Oregon City, Oregon when three assailants attacked him and his friend, Patrick Hallinan.  The three beat Michael Carey to death while his friend, who was on crutches with a broken leg, tried to fend them off.  When they were done with Michael, they turned on his friend and beat him so bad that they broke his arm.  After they left, Michael Carey’s friend performed CPR on him until paramedics came, even with a freshly broken arm and a strong beating.  It was too late, Michael Patrick Carey died at age 38.  Patrick was treated and released from the hospital.

 *Michael with girlfriend Gina and their son Cameron. 

Three men, James D. Stafford IV, 27, Charles L. Scoggins, 24, and Nathaniel K. Entriken, 23 on Wednesday, November 5^th, 2008.  All three are being accused of manslaughter and under investigation by a Clackamas County Grand Jury.

The Oregon City branch of Bank of the West has a memorial fund set up in Michael’s name, or donations can be made to his son, Cameron’s trust account.

Friends and family, who lovingly call him Mike, remember a man who was “his son’s best friend”, “made his mom proud of the neighborhood that she grew up in”, and “Mike was there for us when we called on him to help”.

A memorial service will be held at 3 P.M. on Friday, November 7^th, 2008 at the Oregon City Evangelical Church at 1024 Linn Ave, Oregon City, Oregon, 97045.  For more information, please contact the church at (503)656-8582.

*Photo complements of the family and KATU Portland.