Bronco impersonator could serve decades in prison

JEFFERSON COUNTY – A man who posed as an ex-Denver Bronco faces more than 50 years in prison, much of it the result of a scam he ran at a Lakewood car dealership that conned the dealer out of a car worth $40,000.

Amadeus John Harlan

Amadeus John Harlan, a 40 year-old con man with 11 prior felony convictions for homicide, theft, motor vehicle theft and criminal impersonation, was convicted in Jefferson County District Court last week on charges of identity theft and aggravated motor vehicle theft after a four-day trial.

Jurors took less than an hour to find Harlan guilty.

Harlan also could be found to be a habitual criminal and could spend as much as 48 years in prison on the Jeffco convictions and another 24 years for a recent bad check conviction in Denver. He will be back in a Jeffco courtroom for sentencing in late February.

Harlan, who also uses the alias Johnny Harlan, often pretended to be a professional football player to gain the trust of his victims to gain access to their financial information to purchase expensive vehicles and to get loans, prosecutors said.

In the Lakewood case, Harlan was convicted in a 2007 case in which he scammed Empire Lakewood Nissan to a $40,000 Nissan and used the same victim’s identity to buy a $50,000 Chevrolet Avalanche at another dealership. Prosecutors said Harlan told the salespeople in Lakewood he was buying the Nissan Maxima for a girlfriend and provided her driver’s license, Social Security number and other personal information when he bought the car.

Prosecutors said Harlan obtained the woman’s financial information when she applied for a job with a start-up business he said was related to sports tournaments. Harlan told that woman and other would-be applicants he was a former Denver Bronco football player, according to testimony during the trial.

Handwriting experts examined the paperwork submitted to the Nissan dealership and confirmed that Harlan signed the victim’s name on the loan application and sales contract, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The woman found out about the phony deal nearly three months later after a bank contacted her to find out why she had made no payments on the car. The victim obtained a copy of her credit report and found that someone using her personal information and identity had purchased not only the $40,000 Nissan, but a $50,000 Chevrolet Avalanche, as well.

When investigators contacted employees at the Lakewood dealership, they were told the scammer transaction had bragged about playing for the Denver Broncos and told them he couldn’t tell his wife about the car because he was he was buying for his girlfriend.

Harlan in 2003 was convicted of similar crimes in Arapahoe and Broomfield counties when a victim discovered that a Mercedes, a Cadillac Escalade and a Ford Mustang had been purchased and two signature loans obtained in his name by Harlan and an accomplice.

That victim had given Harlan his drivers’ license and Social Security number while filling out a credit application to purchase a truck at a dealership where Harlan was working at the time. The victim never purchased the truck, but Harlan kept his information and was able to access his credit, according to the DA’s Office.

Harlan was convicted in a felony theft case in Denver earlier this month on charges of cashing phony payroll checks to employees of a bogus Internet business. Evidence presented at the Denver indicates that about $90,000 worth of bad checks was written on his business account even though no deposits were ever made, according to Jeffco prosecutors.