|
|
 Charles "Chas" Edward Laughlin was born May 22, 1954, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He is the second youngest of Rufus and Elsie Laughlin's eight children. His father, Rufus, drove a Hattiesburg city bus for forty years, and though three times promoted to a supervisory position, each time he was "sent back to the line" within a year for one failure or another, the last being an unproven suspicion of skimming bus fares. Chas's mother ran an unlicensed child-care center out of the family's battered double-wide trailer on the outskirts of Hattiesburg's low-end blue-collar section. At the end of every workday, Chas saw his father come home and first drown his resentment with cheap bourbon, then vent it by abusing his wife or children -- whoever was closest.
From a young age, Chas demonstrated an interest in cars, an interest in breaking out of poverty, and an interest in cutting corners to get ahead. As a young boy, he would "hang out" at the dirty service station/garage a half-block from the Laughlins' home, often leaving school early to spend time there. He would watch the cars come and go, and would covet the occasional shining coupe or expensive sports car that pulled in. Watching the gas station's crooked mechanics introduced him to auto maintenance, and along with his father's example, the clerks' and mechanics' activities at the station introduced him to petty fraud. He saw low grade gasoline substituted for premium grade and sold at premium prices, customers charged for repairs that were never made, parts damaged so they would fail later, and money skimmed from the till. These lessons continued as Chas grew old enough to work -- and steal -- part-time at the station. He developed a knack for repairing cars and taking advantage of the unwary, and by eighth grade -- the year he dropped out of school -- he was well-experienced in how to make a fast and dishonest buck. He became small-town street smart; the only thing holding him back was an explosive temper inherited from his father.
At the station, there was always a mechanic willing to buy booze for him for a $10 "tip," and Chas soon developed an alcohol problem. Drink was a factor in Chas's run-ins with the law as a teen. At 15, he was hauled into juvenile court for joyriding; at 17 for assaulting a customer who caught him falsifying car repairs; and on his 18th birthday he was arrested for beating one of the garage's employees who threatened to tell the owner that Chas was dipping into the till.
Chas spent eighteen months in minimum-security at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, MS. Chas, naturally, enrolled in the automobile maintenance and repair program at the prison. It was there he made contacts with others who had perpetrated automobile repair parts scams and he received an advanced education in the practice, learning about chop shops, how to "cook the books," and many other skills.
He also learned how to effectively deal with squealers. When an inmate threatened to expose Chas's and others' scheme of smuggling booze into the facility, Chas helped six other inmates beat the man unconscious and pack his body into a trash compactor.
Chas got out of Parchman in 1973 with a GED, several mechanic's certificates, and a full list of contacts. For the next ten years, he worked at repair shops and garages across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, always leaving just before his scams were discovered, staying one step ahead of the law, and keeping his criminal contacts active. In Tyler, Texas, he met Jo Anna Deckard, a 24-year-old barmaid with three children by three previous boyfriends. They married in 1976, two months after their child was born. While Chas was working at the TruService Auto Repair Shop in Oxford in 1983, Jo Anna demanded that they settle down.
Two years later, when the aging owner of the TruService Shop became ill, Chas raided his savings to buy the shop. He used his bookkeeping skills to convince the sick owner the shop was worth much less than it was, and so picked it up at a fraction of its true value. It was a dream come true for Chas -- now he would have his own business and make real crooked money, not just the few dollars that a dishonest mechanic could steal.
Chas changed the name of TruService to Laughlin Automotive & Body Shop and called his criminal contacts. From 1986 until today, he has kept two sets of books, keeping out of sight the profits from using stolen repair parts and parts from chop shops across the south. He has also taken a heavy hand to those who tried to cheat him. Two of his mechanics were hospitalized after "falling off the lift" -- Chas caught them stealing and beat them to a pulp, threatening to have them sent to jail after they got out of the hospital.
In 2002, Chas found a new and much less expensive supplier of illegally obtained parts in Memphis. He routinely sends his most trusted employees to pick up parts from this supplier.
|
