No Charges for Man Accused in Hot Dog Cart Scam

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Updated: 12:44 PM Nov 29, 2011 No Charges for Man Accused in Hot Dog Cart Scam Albemarle County prosecutors announced Tuesday they will not pursue charges against the Lake Monticello man accused of swindling customers out of thousands of dollars in a scam involving hot dog carts. Posted: 12:11 PM Nov 29, 2011 Reporter: Rachel Ryan Email Address: rachel.ryan@newsplex.com

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November 29, 2011

The Lake Monticello man accused of swindling customers out of thousands of dollars in a nationwide scam involving hot dog carts is no longer facing charges in Albemarle County.

Prosecutors for the Commonwealth announced Tuesday they will nullify the five counts of fraud against Carlos Rios, meaning they aren't dropping the charges, rather just not pursuing them.

Rios, the owner of the Orange County-based New World Hot Dog Cart Company, was investigated by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) earlier this year after multiple customers reported he sold them high end hot dog carts, and then took the money without delivering the goods.

More than a dozen people nationwide filed complaints in December 2010 with the BBB. The carts, which were advertised online on sites like eBay, sold for anywhere between $1,500 and $4,300.

CBS19 caught up with Rios in court Tuesday morning after prosecutors announced they won't be pursuing charges. He said, "I did nothing wrong. That's why they're not doing anything."

A lawyer for Rios acknowledged even though Albemarle County prosecutors aren't moving forward with the case at this time, he thinks other jurisdictions may step in to press charges in the near future.

Latest Comments

Posted by: AsUsual on Nov 30, 2011 at 03:04 PM

Typical reporting from this outfit. Take the easiest route, reprint the news release, with zero effort to dig a little deeper.

Posted by: Dougiefresh on Nov 30, 2011 at 01:15 PM

There is most definitely some seriously large chunks of information missing here. Did he deliver the products finally, just late? Did he refund the money? This is too high profile to be this hush-hush. I doth protest!

Posted by: Nancy on Nov 30, 2011 at 11:59 AM

@The Blur....this man is NOT deceased!

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