A Suwanee mechanic pleaded guilty Friday to one count of racketeering after he was indicted this summer on charges that he preyed on people in addiction recovery and scammed them out of thousands of dollars.
Aaron Hayes was sentenced to 20 years and will owe just over $76,700 in restitution, according to John Melvin, chief assistant district attorney of the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit. A year of his sentence will be served in prison, which Hayes has already served. He is now ordered to work release, which will be suspended once he pays back $25,000.
“The defendant preyed upon very vulnerable victims,” said Melvin. “The sentence was fashioned both to punish him and to make our victims whole as quickly as possible. I am thankful for the work of the Suwanee Police Department and thankful for the RICO statute which made it possible to achieve this result, not just for Gwinnett County residences, but for victims across the north Atlanta area.”
The July 24 indictment accused Hayes of “acquiring money and property through a pattern of racketeering” between April and November 2023.
According to the indictment and police reports, the mechanic promised to help men and women getting out of addiction rehab programs to purchase cheap cars on manageable monthly payment plans. But, according to the indictment, after individuals sent Hayes money — sometimes thousands of dollars — he never delivered the cars, many of which were older and required much work to be functional.
The indictment alleged Hayes’ scheme had 22 victims.
“Shortly after starting the venture, Hayes could not pay his helpers, could not pay rent, and could not deliver on his promises, and started using the funds given to him to pay off other loans received,” the indictment stated.
Melvin previously said they chose to indict Hayes using the state’s RICO statute in order to “help as many victims as possible.”
Last November, when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published an article on Hayes, Suwanee police were investigating seven cases involving him and the organization he was operating under, called Wheels-N-Recovery. While Wheels-N-Recovery presented itself as a nonprofit, the AJC was unable to find associated federal tax forms required of tax-exempt organizations, something the also indictment highlighted.
Hayes was arrested a week after the AJC’s story was published.
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