Louisiana Man Arrested by Bureau of Investigation Agents For Felony Theft, Bank Fraud

Coushatta, Louisiana, sits four hours south of Magnolia.

If you ever shopped for outdoor equipment Thomas Hoeflinger's name may ring a bell.

Authorities arrested 63-year-old Hoeflinger Tuesday on Spruce Street in Coushatta.

Hoeflinger was arrested after an investigation conducted by the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation (LBI), the investigative division of the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, according to a news release from Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.

The Red River Parish Sheriff’s Office assisted LBI with investigating and the arrest.

At the request of the Red River Parish Sheriff, the LBI investigated allegations of fraud committed by Hoeflinger, owner of the Quality Outdoor dealership in Coushatta.

The release tells the story that in July 2024, Hoeflinger closed his business, leaving many customers and the bank that funded Quality Outdoor with many outstanding financial disputes.

"The subsequent investigation by the LBI identified numerous victims of theft and fraud, including previous customers of Hoeflinger’s dealership and a specific financial institution that funded the inventory purchases for retail sales," the release stated.

Hoeflinger sold lawn equipment, tractors, generators, trailers, and other products to customers across the southern United States in his business.

"Often, customers funded expensive purchases through their banking institutions, and Hoeflinger received the bank funds for payment of the purchased item, but never ordered the products from the manufacturer," the release states.

The customer was often left without delivery of the purchased item and obligated them to the bank financing they had arranged.

"An example of this deceptive practice appears in the case of a victim, Hoeflinger, who negotiated the sale of a new tractor that included a used tractor as a trade-in allowance," the release stated.

Hoeflinger sold that tractor from his dealership and never paid off the customer’s trade-in. This left the customer financially responsible for the outstanding loan on the traded-in tractor and the newly purchased tractor. In another case, Hoeflinger took one pickup truck in on consignment at Quality Outdoors.

Hoeflinger sold the vehicle and paid the owner a check for the truck's sale. However, the bank reported the account as having insufficient funds, and Hoeflinger never compensated the vehicle owner for the vehicle.

LBI interviewed several victims who purchased towing trailers and paid the licensing fees to register them with the state motor vehicle office, but never received their registration.

The investigation found that Hoeflinger charged the customers fees to cover the cost of the registration charges and misappropriated the funds himself. This meant those customers were left financially responsible for paying fees a second time to have the trailers registered as required by law. Hoeflinger used a Red River Parish financial institution to purchase stocked items for display for sale, meaning several individual loans were made to the business as inventory was purchased.

When the bank-funded items were sold, Hoeflinger was required to reimburse the bank for the money borrowed. Adding to this, after Hoeflinger closed the business, the LBI discovered several financed inventory items were removed from the business property, sold, or, in cases, used by Hoeflinger for personal use, again defrauding the financial institution of the bank loans. Hoeflinger's criminal schemes to defraud the financial institution and customers have resulted in monetary losses of over five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000.00).

In cooperation with the Red River District Attorney’s Office, the LBI obtained twelve (12) individual arrest warrants for Hoeflinger through the 39th Judicial District.

Charges: