Well-Known Mechanic Arrested for Allegedly Selling Classic Ferraris He Didn't Own
A well-known exotic car mechanic was arrested in Arizona earlier this month after allegedly attempting to sell a Ferrari Daytona and Ferrari 512BB that he did not rightfully own, police said in court documents.
Donnie Callaway was booked in the Lower Buckeye Jail in Maricopa County on charges of theft, trafficking stolen property, forgery, and fraud on April 1.
In the public eye, Callaway appeared to live a life that most mechanics can only dream of. A quick visit to his Instagram page would be enough to make any gearhead drool. He was working on the rarest, most exquisite, vintage Italian exotics ever created. His work appeared to take him all over the world. He rubbed elbows with some of the biggest car collectors in the world. He was featured on the Jay Leno's Garage YouTube series and even mentioned previously on Road & Track. However, aside from being a mechanical talent, his recent legal battles raise questions.
The April 1 arrest for allegedly selling a Daytona and 512 BB that Callaway didn’t own comes with a host of serious charges, but they are not the only legal troubles that he is facing.
Callaway was accused of unfair business practices, title forgery, and auto theft in a lawsuit filed against him in August 2023 by Arthur Teerlynck. The suit seeks restitution of a 1973 Ferrari Daytona, a 1961 Maserati 3500 Spyder Vignale, a 1986 Ferrari 328, and a 1995 Rolls-Royce Flying Spur. This lawsuit claims that Callaway did not have the license legally required to work as an automotive repair mechanic and that he wrongfully assumed control over the plaintiff’s vehicles and was trying to hide them. It goes on to allege that Callaway sabotaged a Ferrari Testarossa in the plaintiff's garage, causing the engine to fail, and then bragged about it on social media. A court hearing on that case is scheduled for May 14.
According to a probable cause statement filed by the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) following his April arrest, Callaway originally came into possession of Teerlynck's Ferrari Daytona and Ferrari 512BB as a sort of broker, receiving the pair from the initial purchase dealership in California and convincing Teerlynck to have close to $1 million of engine and paint work done. Following a confrontation by Teerlynck over the lack of progress, police say Callaway then fraudulently convinced a shipping company that he was the owner of the vehicles and managed to take possession of the titles to each vehicle in 2020.
"Fast forward to March 2023, Don files for a mechanic lien on the Ferrari's [sic] in California without Arthur's knowledge even though Arthur has paid for all the invoices agreed upon," police said in a court document. "Don then sells the Maserati from under Arthur without his consent to someone out of Pennsylvania and the next day Don purchases a plane and registers it in his name."
After an official complaint from Teerlynck and two attempted sales of the Ferrari bodies had gone bad, detectives with the Vehicle Theft Task Force of the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Los Angeles County Sheriff's began investigating Callaway, according to the probable cause statement. Following a records check on the VINs of both Ferraris, the statement says the classics were officially listed as stolen on February 9, 2024. Detectives with the Arizona DPS were notified that Callaway would be traveling to Arizona and made an arrest in a Wells Fargo Bank before executing a search warrant of Callaway's storage unit, where the engines and other parts of the Ferraris were kept.
"He fraudulently possessed stolen vehicles and then trafficked them to another state and sold the stolen vehicles," police said in the court filing. "When that was not enough, he then used the duplicate titles to make [the interested buyer] believe that he was the owner of the cars and got money from him and then went another buyer attempted to sell the same cars again to someone else fraudulently."
In the civil suit proceedings, Callaway's lawyers denied the allegations and argued that a number of the laws—the Automotive Repair Act and Vehicle Codes §§9262 and 11735 —which he is accused of violating don't apply to matters between two private parties. Similarly, Callaway's lawyers claim that the agreements between Teerlynck and Callaway were oral, meaning these contracts were governed by a two-year statute of limitations. With the original agreements being made in early 2019 and the latest payments by Teerlynck coming in early 2021, Callaway's lawyers claim that the filing of the August 2023 complaint was too late to be valid.
Currently, Callaway is being held on a $400,000 cash bond for his April 1 arrest. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for April 17. Court documents list Callaway as a flight risk to California. The initial pretrial conference is set for June 4. The trial is set for August 14.
The lawyers representing Callaway in his criminal and civil proceedings both declined to comment to R&T.
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