Joseph Minas Pagsishan Stolen, Robbed, Swindled San Diego California

Here is the synopsis for events that have transpired between myself and Joe Minas:

 

I befriended Joe in January of 2014.  We became close soon after.  Joe managed an autoshop called "Dragonfly Automotive" that he told me he bought into a 30% stake with his mother and sister, Jenise.  He also claimed to co-own a body shop in Chula Vista at the same time, although he never provided me with a name of the shop or any information regarding business dealings there.  At the end of February 2014 he asked me for a loan that he needed for "parts for a Bel Air" he was working on at his body shop.  He stated he needed $5,000 to purchase the parts and that the job would be done "in no later than a few weeks" to pay me back.  In good faith of my "friend" and in a vulnerable position from a hard breakup with my ex. I loaned him $5,000 thinking it would be a quick turnaround.  I started asking for payments back on this loan in late March, to which the reply always became "I'll have you next week" or "I'll get a loan from Sinaloa (as he claimed he had some affiliation with the drug cartel there and they would front him the money to pay me back)"

Coinciding with the dispute over the loan was my 2006 BMW 525i, which began having serious transmission issues at the end of March/early April.  He claimed he could help me in regards to the vehicle by sub-leasing the vehicle to someone who would put a down payment on the car as well as pay my monthly payments.  The down payment he claimed he would get would be enough to fix the transmission and still have $2,000 left for me as a verbal agreement.  This sounded like a great idea, as he was my friend, autos were his industry and I had no reason not to believe him at this point in time.  I needed the money that I presumed would go towards a downpayment on a new vehicle.  After a short period of time he said his girl friend "Monica" didn't have the credit to purchase a car on her own and needed something badly.  Joe stated she would put down $5,000 as a downpayment, part of which would fix the transmission, the rest would be for me and a small amount for him for the transaction.  I never sawa  sub-lease agreement, never saw a single dollar from the transaction, and Monica ended up having my car for a little over 3 months.  Not one payment was made to me and I kept getting a different story everytime from Joe about when or if I'd get any money.

Monica later relinquished the car and Joe kept telling me he'd find somebody else for it and that the same deal would apply, in terms of a downpayment going to me and my monthly payments being paid off.  I let things slide for a few months as my credit kept taking a major hit from payments not being able to be made on my end as Joe convinced me to buy another car at the time and I had to focus on making payments on that vehicle(a car he made money off of yet still didn't offer to pay any amount owed to me with).  By October he mentioned to me that his friend, Josh had subleased the car and had it since the beginning of September.  This was news to me, and when I asked about details of the exchange, Joe told me that Josh gave him a $2500 downpayment as a check, which later bounced.  Josh as well as another witness have told me that $2500 in cash was exchanged for the vehicle - after all, who let's go of a car without getting any sort of money at all, even if that money is then going to be held from me by Joe.  

Again, I was left with no sublease agreement, no records that a check bounced, nothing.  This is when I started questioning the motives of my "friend."  It took me a month for me to obtain a lease agreement from Joe.  I had discussions with Josh by early November which made me believe Joe gave him my car for $2500 and only $200 monthly payments, when the payments were $451 through wells fargo dealer services.  I was behind furious and demanded the sublease from Joe.  I went to his house one night, and he dodged me when I asked for the agreement.  He took a shower, I looked in his briefcase and see an agreement with HIS bank account information for transactions to be made as well as $200 monthly payments, despite him telling me and assuring me he signed off for $400 per month(still wrong,  but a better lie in his defense).  I said nothing to him as he got changed and when he got upstairs I asked to see the agreement.  He dug through his bag for a little while, and while I wasn't looking, clearly wrote a "4" over the "2" and said it was like that all along - $400 per month.  It was an obvious lie, which I caught him in and I now think he took money from both Monica and Josh, pocketed the cash as well as took monthly payments from them - why else would he wait so long to show me an agreement with my car and his bank account information on it?

So now, my credit is torched, the car I had to track down myself in Mexico and finally got it back only 1 month ago after chasing down Josh with it for months, time taken to deal with this fiasco is too much to count, let alone the stress and angst I've dealt with on a daily basis dealing with this con-man.  All in all, Joe made off with $5k of my own money, plus money he made off my vehicle totaling god-knows-what.

All Joe Minas is - a pathological liar and CON MAN.  Do not do business with him.  His instagram handle is Buddha_Jo and he flaunts around like he's doing big things, but it is on other people's money.  As you can see - he's done this to more people than have surely come forward...