Ex-used car dealer charged with failing to deliver titles is arrested

SANDY — A used car salesman charged months ago with not delivering titles has been arrested.

Joseph Andrew Heath, 40, the owner of Speedway Auto Center, 8400 S. State, was charged with 19 counts of a car dealer failing to deliver a title, a class A misdemeanor, in four separate court filings. The charges were filed in 3rd District Court in March, April and May.

Speedway Auto went out of business earlier this year. Between December 2011 and February 2012, prosecutors say Heath sold vehicles to customers. But many said after they left the lot, they never heard from Heath again.

When customers tried calling Heath a few months later to find out where the titles to their vehicles were, his phone was disconnected, according to the charges.

Several different arrest warrants were issued in March and May. On Tuesday, he was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.

Officials from the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division did not know if Heath had been on the run and hiding or if investigators just hadn't come across him before Tuesday. MVED officials said it wasn't uncommon for a person to be wanted for eight months before being arrested.

— Pat Reavy Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam