A Queens man who claims his signature was forged on an auto-financing agreement that grossly inflated his agreed-upon monthly payments says the NYPD has repeatedly refused to take a complaint about the alleged crimes.
“Each time I brought it to them, they said, ‘No,’ ’’ said Andre Burrowes, 33, about the four times he has tried to file criminal complaints in connection with his SUV purchase from Auto Palace in Woodside.
“They said that didn’t constitute a police report,” said Burrowes, a school-bus driver. Adding to Burrowes’ frustration is that the auto lender, Ally Financial, has asked him to provide a police report to help resolve the situation — in which he said a forged document jacked up his loan amount for a 2004 Volvo.
The allegedly false loan papers said he agreed to buy the vehicle for $26,645 — not the $13,900 to which he said he’d agreed.
His lawyer, Peter Tilem, said the Police Department’s refusal to take Burrowes’ complain “seems to be part of any epidemic in New York City.”
“I have seen other incidents, and I have been made aware of other incidents, where police have absolutely refused to take reports,” said Tilem, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office. “I think the police have made a decision that if the reports are not made, the crime did not happen, so they can easily keep crime stats down by not taking police reports.”
An NYPD spokesman said a 114th Precinct supervisor had no knowledge of Burrowes visiting there, but added that the NYPD encouraged him to return to that precinct house, where “they absolutely will take a report.’’
Richard Simon, a lawyer for Auto Palace, said the dealer’s finance manger, Julio Estrada, recalls Burrowes buying the SUV for the much higher price.