Santa Cruz man accused of defrauding victims of 100’s of thousands

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s investigators are looking for more victims of a man they say defrauded several people of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Investigators began looking into Grant Peuse after learning about a series of large cash investments and loans made by an elderly client of Peuse into his auto restoration business, GMP Speed & Machine. Peuse told his clients he would build or purchase cars for them. During the investigation they discovered that much of the investment money wasn’t going towards what it was supposed to be, and that one of the victim’s credit cards had been charged tens of thousands of dollars without the victim’s permission.

The Sheriff’s Office says the investigation also revealed a pattern of fraud involving several other people.

Peuse was arrested on Thursday, July 20th and booked in the Santa Cruz County Jail. He’s been charged with five counts of grand theft, theft from an elder, money laundering, forgery, and having automatic machine guns.

Investigators believe there may be other victims who haven’t come forward. If you think you may have been a victim, you can call Detective Roger Galvin at 831-454-7642.