West Coast Auto Craft owner to enter plea in $900,000 grand theft case

For dozens of owners of hot rod and classic cars, the pitch by owners of West Coast Auto Craft restoration shop was compelling.

Too compelling, it turns out.

Tuesday, co-owner Chris Miranda, 43, faces 31 counts of felony grand theft and eight counts of felony identity theft for allegedly swindling his customers out of nearly $900,000. He is set to make a plea in Sonoma County Superior Court.

In his wake, a 1932 Ford Highboy roadster, a 1967 Lincoln Continental convertible and dozens of other prized cars were left inoperable at the Windsor garage as he allegedly took hundreds of thousands of dollars for work he never performed.

Miranda has been in custody at the Sonoma County Jail since early May with bail set at $1.5 million.

Pamela Malfa, 36, Miranda’s girlfriend and co-owner of West Coast Auto Craft, faces 27 counts of grand theft. She has pleaded not guilty and was released from jail May 5.

Since that time Malfa has helped facilitate the retrieval of cars and car parts for frustrated customers. Her attorney, Jai Gohel, told The Press Democrat in May that bad business practices are not the same as fraud.

Miranda has been described by his former customers as a skilled manipulator who would endear himself to his alleged victims even as costs soared over the original bid and deadlines were blown.

“He came to stay with us, we made him dinner. He even pushed me around in my wheelchair after my leg was amputated,” said John Wixted, 55, who owns a motel with his wife Tracy in Quincy, 80 miles north of Lake Tahoe in Plumas County.

Tracy and John Wixted are out nearly $100,000 for work never done to their 1967 Lincoln Continental convertible. They are one of 35 named victims in a July 14 court filing, up from 13 named in the original court documents filed in May.

The investigation is ongoing and the number of victims identified could increase, said Sonoma County chief deputy district attorney Brian Staelbell.

At the time of his arrest, Miranda was on felony probation for drug trafficking, Staebell said.

He also is charged with a violation of felony probation stemming from a January arrest for possessing ammunition.

Richard Ingram, the attorney representing Miranda on the ammunition charges, would not comment on the grand theft and identity theft charges. Scott Guite, who is representing Miranda on the charges related to his business, declined to comment.

A friend of the Wixteds referred them to Miranda in 2015. They were looking to take their classic car from good condition to showroom perfect. The couple’s friend is now very apologetic, John Wixted said.

“In the past (Miranda) has done some very good work,” Wixted said.

“He showed me a lot of videos and interviews he’d done with car magazines.”

The couple was quoted $50,000 by Miranda to repaint the car, install a 5.0L Coyote 435 horsepower Mustang crate engine and apply new chrome to the bumpers and trim. They were told the car would be finished within months.

Months turned into two years and the costs doubled, all while Wixted said Miranda acted like his best friend. The two even confided in each other about personal issues and health struggles, Wixted said. He has shared two years of Facebook message history with investigators at the DA’s Office to show the extent of Miranda’s manipulation.

Wixted realized all was not well in mid-2016 when he found the website www.westcoastautocraftsucks.com and the “West Coast Auto Craft Victim’s (sic) page” on Facebook.

There are 140 members with dozens sharing stories about how they’ve been wronged by Miranda.

“I didn’t want to believe that I had been swindled,” Wixted said. “But it did make it feel a little better to see that I wasn’t the only person who had been fooled by his lies.”

Wixted has spent more than $180,000 from purchase price, repairs and finally the $100,000 he lost to Miranda, he said. Just last week, he listed the body and remaining parts of the 1967 Lincoln Continental on a website for $4,000.

“The car used to be in pretty darn good condition,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nick Rahaim at 707-521-5203 or nick.rahaim@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nrahaim.