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Body shop manager stole over $500,000 worth of government trucks and parts

The US Department of Justice announced yesterday that the manager of a collision and restoration business in Virginia admitted he helped misappropriate and sell vehicles and parts from the State Department. Specifically, he sold 12 Chevrolet Suburbans, a Hummer, and $7,500 worth of tires and wheels. He pled guilty to charges to commit theft of government property and wire fraud. He will likely see 18 to 20 months in prison, a fine of $4,000 to $40,000, and has already agreed to pay restitution of $416,020 and asset forfeiture of the same amount. According to the Department of Justice, the body shop manager, James Ratcliffe, worked with the owner of the business and a State Department official, both unnamed, to obtain the property. It started with the wheels and tires, which were delivered and sold on two occasions, one in 2011 and another in 2012. The trucks came later, and were sold throughout 2011 and 2013. Ratcliffe and the shop owner kept most of the profits, and shared some of the leftovers with the government official. In addition to the vehicles that were sold, the government official also gave Ratcliffe a pair of Suburbans for his own personal use. The Department of Justice estimated the total value of the SUVs at $96,400. In total, the group misappropriated $512,420 worth of property. Related Video:

Hillary Clinton takes to campaign trail in a van called Scooby

It still seems way too early to even starting thinking about the 2016 presidential election, but candidates are already throwing their hats in the ring. Among the officially announced hopefuls so far is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. To kick off her run for office, she recently embarked on a long-distance road trip from her home in New York to the campaign battleground of Iowa. Rather than a limo, she was driven there in a conversion van (pictured above) that Clinton named Scooby after Hanna-Barbera's famous, mystery-solving dog. According to Yahoo Autos, the vehicle itself is a Chevrolet Express that has been customized by the Explorer Van Company, and Time says that it's also armored. Clinton isn't behind the wheel, though. All those years in public office mean that the Secret Service does the driving. Of course, the vehicle in Scooby Doo was named the Mystery Machine, and Scooby was mostly brown, not black. To explain the somewhat odd naming, Clinton traveled around in a brown van during her 2000 Senate campaign in New York, and it earned the nickname Scooby, according to Time. Apparently, the moniker has stuck for her latest ride. If the start of the Clinton campaign seems early, she isn't the first White House hopeful to arrive in Iowa this year. A bunch of possible Republican candidates already met at summits in the state at least twice to gain favor ahead of the caucus there. No word on what they were driving...

GM recalls select Tahoes, Yukons, Escalades for rear driveshaft issue

GM is recalling a number of its full-size SUVs due to an issue with the rear driveshaft assembly that could ultimately result in driveshaft failure. The actual number of total vehicles involved in the recall is small at just 1,789, but it’s spread out across the entire 2021 model year full-size GM vehicle lineup. That means a small number of every model is being recalled, including the Chevrolet Tahoe, Suburban, GMC Yukon, Yukon XL and the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV. GM traced the issue back to certain driveshaft assemblies with ball bearings that were not properly heat treated. If theyÂ’re not properly heat treated, GM says that the balls may deform over time, causing noise and vibration. Continue to drive in this condition, and GM says the affected joint in the driveshaft assembly could seize, causing loss of drive power. However, the problem wonÂ’t present itself all at once, as GM says there will be a gradual increase of noises and vibrations before total failure. For those few owners with affected vehicles, GM says that it will replace the left and right rear driveshaft assemblies with properly-built units. Per usual with recalls, this will be done at your local dealership at no cost to the owner. If you have one of the recalled SUVs, expect to be notified mid-March. Related video: