Pasco Boat Shop Owner Arrested For Running Ponzi Scheme: Police

HUDSON, FLA. — A 43-year-old Pasco County man is accused of defrauding 60 boat owners and running a Ponzi scheme out of his Hudson boat repair shop, where police say he said he was running a chop shop and defrauding customers out of thousands of dollars.

Scott Sands, the owner of Liberty Entrepreneurs and Independent Salvage, which is also known as Hudson Marine Service, was arrested Monday following a multi-day search warrant execution at his shop, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Department announced Monday.

Sands, who previously served time for running a similar operation out of Pinellas County, was charged with scheme to defraud, failure to secure worker’s compensation insurance coverage, grand theft, dealing in stolen property, being a felon in possession of a firearm, owning and operating a chop shop and possession of a vessel with an altered hull, police said.

Arrest reports indicate that Sands began advertising boat repair services on Facebook in 2019. Since then, police said he routinely told customers it would take about three weeks to complete the repairs on their boat and then would not complete the work. Months later, after customers would contact Sands, police said he would remove the motor and other parts from their boat and sell them on sites such as Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, police said Monday.

Sands would then tell customers that because they did not pick up their boat in a timely fashion, their boat had been impounded, which resulted in him charging customers thousands of dollars in impound fees, the arrest report states. Sands would then either destroy the boat’s shell after the boat had been stripped or would attempt to sell it.

In a news conference on Monday, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told reporters that Sands also used car parts to use for boat repairs as well as parts that he had reportedly stolen off the boats of other customers.

Sands, who is out on bond, told News Channel 8 that he has done nothing wrong.

“I will not say that there has not been any mistakes made. I can’t make any comment on the beginning charges, but I can tell you this, we are not a chop shop. We did not defraud the public,” Sands told the station. “Getting arrested and thrown in a cop car before you get a chance to explain yourself and watching affidavits getting written up about somebody before they even see proof is a major issue.”

Detectives said Monday that customers told police that Sands used the coronavirus as a reason for delays in his work. But detectives said when interviewed, Sands said that other things came up but did not specifically mention COVID-19 as a reason why work was delayed on a customer’s boat.

Nocco said that more than 75 boats were removed from a lot where Sands stored boats after he had gotten them from customers. Detectives said that Sands would remove expensive parts from boats, including the motor, take them apart, repaint them black to make them look like new. Sands was charged with running a chop shop in 2010 and was jailed. A private Facebook group has been formed for customers of Sands’ who say they were defrauded in ways described in detail in the arrest report.

"This is a Ponzi scheme," Nocco told reporters Monday morning. "Everyone talks about money Ponzi schemes, this is a boat repair shop Ponzi scheme that was going on."

Nocco said that while victims will get their boats back in many cases, it is unlikely they will recover the money they paid Sands up front to do the repairs on the work. In addition to the boats that were seized from the property, Nocco said that other motor vehicles and parts were collected as evidence. Police also believe there are more victims who have not yet come forward.

"Everything lines up to the fact that Scott Sands was causing harm to these people who left their boats there,” Nocco said in disputing Sands’ claims he did nothing wrong. “If he has proof otherwise, please provide it to us."

Police are asking any who believes they could be a victim of Sands to call the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 1-800-706-2488 and refer to case number 20022049.