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By Edgar Sanchez -- Sacramento Bee

An Alabama man was sentenced Friday in Sacramento Superior Court to a year in jail for issuing phony vehicle titles to Californians for the purpose of paying reduced car-registration fees.

The fraud by Richard Weaver cost California tens of thousands of dollars in lost tax revenues and license fees, prosecutors said.

Weaver, 55, a first-time offender, will serve his sentence either in Alabama or in Sacramento County jail starting Aug. 7.

For six months, he will toil by day in a work-release program and spend nights in jail. After that, he will continue to work by day and be confined to his home at night for six months.

Weaver, owner of Titles Unlimited, also must pay $30,000 in restitution to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

"This illegal operation provided false information regarding the purchase of expensive vehicles to hundreds of Californians, which allowed them to avoid smog requirements and pay reduced sales taxes and vehicle registration fees," Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy Attorney General Robert M. Morgester in a non-jury trial before Judge James Morris.

On April 2, Weaver was convicted on a felony count of offering false instruments and on a misdemeanor charge of giving false information to the DMV.

During the trial, the court heard undisputed evidence that Weaver's company provided documents for 613 California vehicles from 1999 until March 2003. About 150 of those cars were Cobra "kit" or "replica" cars that had been fraudulently registered with DMV.

Some of the kit cars were bought for $40,000 or $60,000, yet were usually registered through DMV as older cars worth only $500.

"It's estimated that the state of California lost over $600,000 in applicable fees for the 150 Cobra kit cars," Morgester said.

According to court documents, Weaver charged about $200 to falsify each car's title, and earned $30,000 to process the papers for the 150 Cobras.

Weaver's Web site encouraged the under-reporting of a car's true value, court papers said, by announcing: " 'Price' is the same price as you wish to have on the papers back to you. Since in some states you may be required to pay sales tax on this price, be careful not to make it too high or too low."

An ongoing probe has identified at least five other out-of-state companies that have provided false vehicle titles to Californians, Morgester said.

"We estimate that 70,000 vehicles have been illegally registered in California" through the scam operations, he added.

The names of 109 people who falsely registered their California cars with Weaver's help have been sent to district attorneys throughout the state for possible prosecution, Morgester said.

Weaver and his attorney, Christopher Wing, declined comment as they left the court.

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