Owner of Motor Home Shop Faces New Charges Over Repairs

A Reseda man convicted last year of operating a motor home repair shop without a license was charged Tuesday with similar new violations following an undercover investigation by state inspectors, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office said.

Duane Joseph Dwyer, 62, faces six misdemeanor counts, including grand theft and illegal business practices for repairs that he recommended to state inspectors who brought a recreational vehicle to Dwyer’s North Hills repair shop in January, said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for the city attorney.

If found guilty, Dwyer faces a maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and six months in jail for each count, plus additional jail time for violating the terms of his probation on the previous conviction.

Dwyer did not return telephone calls Tuesday to his business, American En Route Inc., in North Hills.

Dwyer was sentenced to four months in jail after he pleaded no contest in August, 1991, to one count of operating Motor Holidays Ltd. in Northridge without a license and failing to provide a customer with a detailed repair invoice.

The California Department of Consumer Affairs had revoked Dwyer’s auto repair license four months earlier, the result of customer complaints to the state’s Bureau of Automotive Repair that date back to 1983, Goldstein said.

Consumer affairs officials determined in an administrative hearing that Dwyer had engaged in bait-and-switch schemes, and performed unauthorized and unneeded repairs, Goldstein said.

In last year’s court case, a Canoga Park man testified that Dwyer charged him $950 for mostly unauthorized repairs on an RV that was brought in for an inexpensive oil change.

The man told the judge he agreed to pay the bill only because his wheelchair-bound wife was held “like a hostage” inside the RV, which Dwyer kept on jacks until the bill was paid.

The couple later complained to state authorities, who turned the case over to the city attorney’s office for prosecution.

Dwyer caught the attention of state inspectors again last fall after they noticed an advertisement for America En Route similar to ads used by Dwyer for his previous shop, authorities said.

“Traditionally, he offered a free brake inspection with a lube and oil change,” and would then add on other unneeded repairs, said Kate McGuire, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

State inspectors had mechanics inspect a 1984 motor home, determined that it needed no repairs, and then left it with Dwyer.

The complaint alleges that Dwyer then charged the undercover inspectors $1,813.37 for repairs, when only a $76 job was needed. It also alleges that Dwyer failed to provide a repair estimate or a copy of the repair order, both required by state law.

Dwyer is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 17 in Los Angeles Municipal Court.