For almost a decade, Michael Wilkey has been warning people about Jack Truex.
He started a Facebook group called Victims of Jack Truex years ago. It's gone through name changes, he said, as Jack's name has changed.
Truex's nameappeared again in Denver7 Investigates' reportinglast month, in connection with Harley's Garage. Customers told Denver7 that the Arapahoe County repair shop had closed down and disappeared with their cars.
Denver7 Investigates tracked down some of those cars being stored in a Denver homeowner's backyard.
Since then, some owners have reunited with their cars, and a tow company has offered to help tow the rest for free.
But other customers like Marieka Grigsby said, Truex did shoddy work on her car last year and refused to refund her money.
"So, when I saw your story on air on the TV, that's when I decided that I was going to call you because I was victimized as well," she said, adding that she couldn't find Truex to serve a lawsuit after the shop suddenly closed.
Denver7 found multiple lawsuits against Truex with similar complaints.
In addition, he pleaded guilty to felony charges in 2020 and was ordered to pay restitution and not work for himself.
"So our whole goal was to find resolution in a way that would just stop this from happening so there wouldn't be any more victims," said Wilkey. "And I would have to argue that that is not the case."
Truex declined our request for an on-camera interview but said he is paying restitution and was not the owner of Harley's Garage, only the manager.
State records show his wife is listed as the registered agent.
"She was a silent partner in the business with the actual owner, the full owner," said Truex, who added he is no longer working on cars, but selling items on Facebook Marketplace to pay off his debts. "If there are any customers that haven't heard from us, or say they haven't heard from us, please give them my number."
Several customers said Harley's Garage had a good reputation for decades, and Truex only took over in recent years.
Wilkey said more people are joining his Facebook group claiming to be Truex's victims, so he believes it is important to shine a light on the issue.
"I think stories like this do highlight situations of the people that fall through the cracks on purpose to take advantage of other people," he said. "We need to find a way to actually fill in those cracks."
