Durham's dealership owes thousands

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - There is another development in the ongoing 24 Hour News 8 I-Team 8 investigation into Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham.

This time it involves a car dealership called Diamond Motors. It sits on East Street near downtown Indianapolis. The dealership has an active dealer’s license in Indiana and has had one since January of 2004.

Last Friday, the Indiana Secretary of State's office sent an inspector there, because 24 Hour News 8 called and asked if Diamond Motors complies with the requirements of Indiana Law.

We asked Jim Gavin, spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, exactly what compliance is.

"Those include things like being accessible to the public a certain number of hours per week... being accessible to the public, that can be either in person or on the phone, having signage being conspicuously placed with a phone number.”

There's no obvious signage, no phone number, it is not accessible to the public. Yet the license for Diamond Motors is still active.

Gavin says "In this case it's only been a couple of days so we still want to make sure that what was discovered by the investigator matches up with the reality of that location actually is."

In the fenced parking lot of Diamond Motors is a hint of who owns the dealership; there's a boat with the name "Obsidian" on it. Obsidian, is the Tim Durham company raided by the FBI.

Diamond Motors is one of Durham's companies. Like other Durham properties, the Diamond Motors building owes thousands in back taxes. According to the Marion County treasurers office no taxes have been paid on the building in at least a year and a half.

If more than $20,000 isn't paid by mid-March, it will be sold at the Sheriff's tax sale.

Remember, one of Tim Durham's hobbies is collecting expensive cars. And licensed dealers can buy cars through the dealership without paying sales tax. In addition, Diamond Motors may owe Durham's Fair Finance, the Ohio business alleged to be a Ponzi Scheme, more than $9,000,000.

As for the future of Diamond Motors, the Secretary of State's Office says it will be a week or so before it decides whether it will take action to suspend the license.