The owner of a Lyons auto shop has settled a fraud lawsuit after her husband, a mechanic at the shop, was found in default in the same suit in March.
Tamara Quiroz, of Jefferson, and Canyon Auto Service LLC agreed to pay $8,300 to Salem resident Rachel Wolf in a stipulated judgment approved May 17 in Marion County Circuit Court.
Though the judgment allowed an eight-month payment plan, Quiroz paid the sum in full that day. If Quiroz had not complied with the terms of the judgment, including the payments, an additional $2,500 prevailing party fee would have been imposed.
Quiroz and her business were represented by Salem attorney Arthur Cummins, while Wolf was self-represented.
This comes after Quiroz’ husband Godofredo “Lee” Quiroz was ordered to pay Wolf $13,375 on April 24. He was found in default March 29 after not responding to an amended complaint. This judgment had yet to be satisfied as of press time.
Our Town reached out to the defendants for comment but did not hear back by press time.
Wolf filed suit July 26, 2022, after uncovering what she believed to be years of fraudulent activity. She was previously granted a judgment of $8,180 in 2019 for a botched engine replacement. Her attempts to collect gave her access to defendants’ banking records.
With her background as a forensic bookkeeper, Wolf found evidence of alleged crimes including negotiating bad checks, falsifying business records, obtaining execution of documents by deception, and tax evasion. She filed her new suit to bring the allegations to light and prevent further alleged fraudulent activity.
The stipulated judgment did not require defendants to admit wrongdoing. Wolf agreed to release Tamara Quiroz and the business from liability after the judgment was satisfied.
This is the latest in a long history of legal judgments against Lee Quiroz.
Since 2009, he has been ordered to pay more than $190,000 to six former clients, including Wolf, who claimed he accepted payment for work he did not perform or failed to complete. Allegations ranged from substandard engine rebuilds to the theft or mishandling of parts intended for upgrades.
