ST. JOSEPH COUNTY — Local police are looking for victims of a scam that starts in the classified section of the newspaper. The target is people trying to sell a car. It's called the Arizona Dream Cars scam.

Lots of local victims are pretty upset with a man they say tricked them into buying false advertisements to sell their trucks, cars, motorcycles and motor homes.

Michael Miller and Paul Emmons have never met, but there is one thing they have in common: Both say they were ripped off by David Stout.

Both Emmons and MIller put vehicles up for sale in local advertising spaces. A few weeks after the ads were running, the two received phone calls from a man claiming to be from Arizona Dream Cars.

"He said, 'You can get another $2,000 or $3,000 for [your motor home] out here in Arizona,'" remembers Emmons.

"I kind of said 'no' to him at first," Michael Miller told WSBT. "But he kept calling back."

That's the point when both Miller and Emmons gave in. Both said they paid David Stout to put pictures on the Arizona Dream Cars website. Miller even signed a contract.

"He said 'I've got my brother and 2 or 3 others in Michigan City who would come out and take pictures of it, and you give them a check for $209,'" said Paul Emmons.

Emmons also said Stout promised to have the motor home listed on the website within 3 or 4 days.

Both victims told WSBT those pictures never showed up the website. They're not alone. Police finally arrested David Stout when he approached St. Joseph County police Sgt. Regis Thimon's son about the scam.

From there, Sgt. Thimons started his own research. Working with a detective in Elkhart County, Thimons found more than 25 local complaints against Stout and Arizona Dream Cars. All those victims lost hundreds, even thousands of dollars to the scam. Now many of them just want to see justice served.

"I'm not caring about getting the money back," said Paul Emmons. "I want to see those kinda guys put where they're supposed to be."

At this point, police aren't sure if Stout was working alone in this area. Investigators say there could be other people involved in other parts of the country, but they're not sure.

Stout is in the St. Joseph County Jail right now on preliminary charges of theft, attempted theft and corrupt business. After police are done with him, Stout will go directly to the Elkhart County Jail to face even more charges.

Local investigators have have reason to believe Stout scammed a lot more people then have been reported to them. As a victim, the best thing you can do is turn any contracts, e-mails or copies of canceled checks over to police.