The Associated Press

LOUISVILLE - State police are investigating whether a used-car franchise may have given the former head of the attorney general's consumer affairs office in Louisville favorable deals on used cars.

Maj. Mike Sapp said the probe of Robert Winlock, who ran the consumer affairs office from 1986 to 2001, began in April, at the request of the attorney general's office. He then worked part time until earlier this year.

Jefferson County clerk records show that during Winlock's time in the attorney general's office, he purchased six cars and trucks from the Louisville J.D. Byrider dealership. In several instances, he got far more for a trade-in or paid far less for a car than its book value, the Courier-Journal reported Sunday.

In one deal, state records show that on Oct. 12, 2000, the dealership gave Winlock a $6,995 trade-in credit on a 1991 Ford Taurus with 103,285 miles. The sedan had a trade-in value at the time of $1,375, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. In the most recent deal, Byrider on Dec. 15 gave Winlock a $5,000 trade-in credit on a 12-year-old pickup with 129,382 miles. That was $3,330 more than the truck's trade-in value listed by the dealers association.

The newspaper reported in June that the local Byrider dealership over the past five years had been the subject of nearly twice as many complaints to the state attorney general's office as the next 10 largest local used-car dealers combined.

But none of those complaints resulted in enforcement action.

Ellen Friedman, a Louisville consumer lawyer who has sued Byrider and says she has taken more than 100 calls over the years from disgruntled Byrider customers, called the transactions "a clear conflict of interest. Whether or not the special deals had anything to do with the failure of the attorney general to go after Byrider, the consumers of Kentucky have a right to wonder whose interests were being placed first," Friedman said.

Winlock and J. Marc Maguire, who runs the local Byrider franchise, declined to comment.

But in interviews with the Courier-Journal in May, both said Byrider never asked for or got favorable treatment from Winlock.

As the head of the Louisville office, Winlock said in May, he supervised investigators who responded to complaints against car dealers and sometimes talked with dealers himself.

Later, as a part-time employee, he investigated complaints against dealers directly, said Harold Turner, who succeeded Winlock as the office's director.

Winlock acknowledged in the May interview that he is friends with Maguire's father, James "Scotty" Maguire, who owns the Byrider franchise. But Winlock said, "Scotty never asked me to do anything for him - that is the truth - so help me."

In response to the newspaper's stories, Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo's office announced in June that it planned to reconsider all consumer complaints against the franchise to determine if there had been any violations of state or federal law. The review is still under way, spokeswoman Vicki Glass said earlier this month. Glass said the office became aware of the allegations against Winlock last winter, after he left the agency. The office immediately asked state police to investigate, she said.

Winlock, a non-merit system employee, wasn't retained by the attorney general when Stumbo took office; he resigned on Jan. 5.

Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Dave Stengel said his office will review the state police findings after the investigation is complete.