A challenge to find the Challenger of youth - Local - TheSunNews.com

Uddy Whittington's search for the 1971 Dodge Challenger that was stolen from his grandfather nearly 28 years ago came to an end last week.

But the Surfside Beach resident's reunion with the rare muscle car has raised questions about the national network of collectors who think nothing of spending six figures for the car of their dreams - and the lengths some people will go to sell them that car.

It's a world where documents can be falsified, car titles muddied, original parts switched for fakes and the car you think you're getting isn't really the one you get.

The old man's sales pitch sounded plausible enough to art collector Don Fuson. The warning signs didn't appear until after Fuson paid him $30,000 for what he thought were paintings by renowned folk artist Clementine Hunter.

By the time the FBI got involved, Fuson didn't need the agents to tell him what he already suspected: The paintings appeared to be forgeries.

The FBI is investigating allegations that William Toye, 78, and his wife Beryl Ann, 68, have been selling forged paintings to unsuspecting art collectors and dealers since the 1970s. William Toye was arrested in the '70s on a charge of forging Hunter's work, but was never prosecuted.

Two people suspected of stealing up to 1,000 pieces of luggage from baggage claim carousels at Phoenix's airport have been arrested by police who found heaps of the stolen bags strewn throughout their home.

There were so many suitcases that Phoenix police could only give a rough estimate of their number Tuesday as they pulled them out one by one and gathered them in the yard of Keith Wilson King and Stacy Lynne Legg-King's suburban residence.

"A piece of luggage here, a piece of luggage there, I would imagine gets stolen out of airports all the time," Phoenix police Detective James Holmes said Tuesday. "This is a livelihood. There's a lot of luggage and there's a lot of victims."

Read more...