Former Manager Of Cheyenne Auto Shop accused Of Stealing $105k

A 48-year-old Cheyenne man was behind bars at last report after being arrested on a warrant for felony theft on Sunday, June 14.

Ciprino J. Valdez, who is commonly known as CP, allegedly embezzled $105,000 from Nick's Fast Track auto shop in Cheyenne. Valdez was manager of the shop at the time and typically was in charge of day-to-day operations.

Get our free mobile app

According to charging documents in the case, an investigation into Valdez was launched in August of 2025 after business owner Nick Dodgson got a complaint from a customer about work the customer had done at the shop.

Valdez Was Allegedly Keeping Cash For Work Done At The Shop

When Dodgson checked the maintenance tracking system, he saw that the work had been cancelled, indicating it had never been done at Nick's Fast Track.

Dodgson also found that accounting books were short by $2,000. Dodgson confronted Valdez about the missing $2,000, and the money reappeared the next day without explanation.

As Dodgson looked into the situation, he allegedly discovered that Valdez was writing up service orders from customers and telling them that the shop offered a discount for paying in cash. Valdez would enter the order into the tracking system, order parts, complete the work and cancel the order in the tracking system.

The work would be done and the customer would give Valdez the cash, but the order would show up in the system as having been cancelled and Dodgson would not be told.

Dodgson thought the thefts had been happening at least since January of 2025 until the thefts were discovered in August of that year, according to the charging documents.

Dodgson confronted Valdez. He and shop service technician Michael Rabino met with Valdez, who admitted to stealing $40,000 over the past two years. Valdez wrote out and signed a confession. Dodgson then fired him.

In the affidavit, Cheyenne Police Detective Matthew Ryan says he looked over spreadsheets for the business from January 9, 2025 to August 5 of that year. Ryan says he found 119 cancelled service tickets, with CP Valdez listed as the user who cancelled the transactions.

The total cash amount of the cancelled transactions was $130,229.66. Since Valdez was the manager, he would have primarily been in charge of taking and entering service orders. He also handled cash deposits into the business bank account.

Cash deposits to the bank over that time totaled $24,918.59, leaving $105,311.07 unaccounted for.

Deputies applied for an arrest warrant for Valdez last month. He as arrested by Cheyenne police on Sunday. According to Cheyenne Police Spokeswoman Alex Farkas "The officer recognized the vehicle he was driving and knew he had an outstanding felony theft warrant. He was booked into the Laramie County Jail on the warrant, possession of marijuana, and no liability insurance."

If convicted of felony theft, under Wyoming law Valdez could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and/or fines up to $10,000.