Sanders returned to Elizabethton...

ELIZABETHTON - A man accused of swindling customers out of car parts and services has been extradited back to town after nearly two years away.

Carroll Carson Sanders, 49, who has been convicted in Arizona of bilking more than $1.5 million from people there, faces 18 theft counts in Carter County.

He owned East Tennessee Motorsports, which closed in January 2004 and left dozens of customers waiting for car parts and services they never received, authorities said.

He took nearly $200,000 from Tri-Cities residents, police said.

"He referred to us as dumb country hillbillies," said one of Sanders' alleged victims, Garry Cole. "I hope our judge isn't a hillbilly."

Cole's out $12,000 for two trucks he never received, he said.

"I'm just a common everyday working person, and it hurts to lose that much money," he said.

Sanders was in court Tuesday on two outstanding warrants more than a year and a half old - and a citation for failure to appear in court.

Police believe he went to Mexico for a brief time after leaving the area. He was captured last winter in New Mexico working in auto parts under an assumed name, police said.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Special Investigator Dan Bowman wondered at times whether he'd ever catch Sanders.

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