r/CFB Alabama Crimson Tide 2d ago

News TJ Finley’s attorneys release statement following Tulane QB’s arrest

https://www.al.com/sports/2025/04/tj-finleys-attorneys-release-statement-following-tulane-qbs-arrest.html
282 Upvotes

101 comments sorted by

174

u/Kan169 /r/CFB 2d ago

One of my co-workers had this happen to her at a seemingly legitimate car lot. Okay, it was seedy fly by night one on a desolate corner of Parkersburg (yes, most corners in Parkersburg are desolate but this one was particularly so) so no one else was surprised it was stolen.

48

u/drilling4brains Marshall Thundering Herd 2d ago

Ah, Parkersburg. Not that I have any room to talk, but you'll have that.

17

u/MPFields1979 West Virginia Mountaineers 2d ago

I used to live in P’burg!

9

u/DogVacuum 2d ago

I think I bought a car from you.

6

u/MPFields1979 West Virginia Mountaineers 2d ago

The only car I sold up there didn’t run.

3

u/MPFields1979 West Virginia Mountaineers 2d ago

I take that back, there may have been an older Pontiac . Sold that before I moved to Florida.

3

u/BottleCapper25 Marshall • West Virginia 2d ago

Parkersburg mentioned!!!

205

u/SirMellencamp Alabama Crimson Tide • Iron Bowl 2d ago

Pretty much what everyone expected. I hope he isnt stupid enough to knowingly by a hot car

146

u/Showdenfroid_99 Michigan • Ferris State 2d ago

It was a beautiful car. A gorgeous car. A sexy car. Some might even say a hot car. 

55

u/wit_T_user_name Ohio State Buckeyes • Ohio Bobcats 2d ago

Stupid sexy car.

26

u/IONTOP Arkansas • Arizona State 2d ago

It feels like driving nothing at all!

9

u/TrappedInOhio Kent State • Notre Dame 2d ago

Car got me all bricked up.

5

u/OTribal_chief Clemson • Manchester (UK) 2d ago

Its just a sexy car (Sexy car) Its not your boy car (Boy car)

7

u/_Football_Cream_ Texas Longhorns • SEC 2d ago

Everybody is saying it

4

u/BiscuitDance Oregon • Mississippi State 2d ago

Can you even say that? They don’t want you to say that. They won’t let you say that…. But I’ll say it

cheers and applause

38

u/hunterschuler SMU Mustangs • Texas State Bobcats 2d ago

The officer ran the truck's license plate number, which matched the plate number registered to a different vehicle belonging to Finley, according to court records.

Idk man. Putting plates from your other vehicle on a truck you just purchased a few days ago is pretty unusual, especially when it turns out the VIN is hot. Maybe there's an explanation but it doesn't look great.

23

u/lightninhopkins Minnesota Golden Gophers 2d ago

Eh, when I was young I did that. Bought a car and put my old plates on it till I could get to the DMV.

18

u/Strokethegoats Ohio State Buckeyes • Team Chaos 2d ago

I did that last month on a truck I bought. My local tax office appointments were booked for almost 3 weeks straight. I keep an old truck plate for this just in case.

14

u/lightninhopkins Minnesota Golden Gophers 2d ago

Exactly. This is kinda common in my experience. I did spend a lot of time growing up poor in the city and then living rural as an adult. So maybe others are not aware of this practice.

3

u/dinanm3atl Florida State • Georgia Tech 1d ago

I’m a big car guy and swap cars a lot. If you had an appointment and proof of this. Why run the known wrong plate? As then you are going to have to explain to officer you did it intentionally. Which means you knew you were committed an offense.

I just drive with no tag. Can it be a hassle but it’s quick and painless. Here is bill of sale. Title. Signed. And insurance. I’m driving to the tag office. Or I’m driving home just got it.

Also where do you live? 3 weeks you can’t get a registration? I live in metro Atlanta area and can just show up. Rarely even wait 10-15min. Out with a fresh tag and registration.

3

u/Mr_MacGrubber LSU Tigers • Army West Point Black Knights 1d ago

Should’ve just done what 90% of people do in New Orleans and just have no plates or decorative plates.

2

u/cantstopwontstopGME Texas Longhorns 2d ago

Why would you not just keep the paper tags on it? They are good for multiple months

2

u/lightninhopkins Minnesota Golden Gophers 2d ago

Where do you get the paper tags.

3

u/back_that_ Penn State Nittany Lions 1d ago

From a dealer who isn't breaking the law.

1

u/lightninhopkins Minnesota Golden Gophers 1d ago

If you buy from another person man.

2

u/back_that_ Penn State Nittany Lions 1d ago

If you want to transfer a tag, you follow your state's rules for doing so. If you want a new plate, you follow your state's rules for doing so.

If you don't know how to buy a car legally you probably shouldn't be buying a car.

0

u/lightninhopkins Minnesota Golden Gophers 1d ago

Sure buddy.

2

u/back_that_ Penn State Nittany Lions 1d ago

Yes, following the rules is how you avoid getting arrested.

Being sarcastic about that makes me think you might have been arrested once or twice.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/SirMellencamp Alabama Crimson Tide • Iron Bowl 2d ago

Oooof. I guess I should have read the whole article instead of the statement

-4

u/Expensive-Method8321 Georgetown Hoyas 2d ago

nah its perfectly normal especially if you dont have time to get to the dmv anytime soon

6

u/cantstopwontstopGME Texas Longhorns 2d ago

It’s not perfectly normal haha.. It is just plain sketchy, especially when a cop can literally scan your plates and see it doesn’t match the vehicle you’re driving, and doubly so when it turns out the vehicle that you swapped the plates on is a stolen vehicle that you bought.

-5

u/Expensive-Method8321 Georgetown Hoyas 2d ago

It's perfectly normal to swap plates onto a new car that you just bought. Obviously it might end up problematic if unbeknownst to you the car you just bought was stolen. But if it wasn't, which I'd clearly what TJ believed, then he just did what a lot of people do when they get a new car.

3

u/cantstopwontstopGME Texas Longhorns 1d ago

I have never heard of, or met anyone who has done this before I opened this thread. So I just don’t think it’s as common as you’re making it out to be.

2

u/dinanm3atl Florida State • Georgia Tech 1d ago

Not really. You are knowingly committing a crime that instantly jumps out as “this is sketchy”. IE putting on the wrong tag.

1

u/cantstopwontstopGME Texas Longhorns 2d ago

What’s by the hot car?

131

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago

Sounds like several guys called it in the previous thread announcing his arrest. Really sucks that there are people out there scamming everyone any chance they can get.

51

u/EvangelionOG Iowa Hawkeyes • Navy Midshipmen 2d ago

People are shitty and will do everything to scam someone these days

42

u/BeatNavyAgain Beat Navy! 2d ago

People have always been shitty and have always been willing to do everything to scam anyone any time

12

u/Insane92 Verified Coach 2d ago

Literally a tale as old as time. Not sure how anyone’s is surprised by that nowadays.

14

u/Nickyjha Team Chaos 2d ago

Literally a tale as old as time.

there's a 5000 year old cuneiform tablet about a merchant named Ea-Nasir trying to sell substandard copper at full price

3

u/sroomek Tennessee • Garðabæ 2d ago

3

u/Gabians Michigan • Wayne State (MI) 2d ago

I want to know how that sub came about.

3

u/LSNoyce 2d ago

And even more people are stupid and fall for the scams. PT Barnum would be a Billionaire today.

14

u/asmallercat Michigan • Central Michigan 2d ago

This ain't it dude. Yeah, I wish people had more common sense, but the vast majority of people who fall for scams are the elderly. Imagine being 70 today - you were born in 1955 when color TV's weren't common, the internet didn't exist in a meaningful way until you were 40+, and now there are scammers that can convincingly pretend to be your children or grandchildren claiming to need money for an emergency, even down to copying their voice if they have a somewhat big online presence. It's insane to expect everyone to be able to filter through all that without ever failing.

6

u/Lovestick Alabama • 华东理工大学 (ECUST) 2d ago

No, it happens to everyone. You're not wrong with the elderly.

3

u/LSNoyce 2d ago

Give you that. Scams are much more sophisticated and can reach many more people.

2

u/USMfans 1d ago

I mean, it was a car thief. What do you expect?

-13

u/GiraffesAndGin Notre Dame Fighting Irish • Paper Bag 2d ago edited 2d ago

But who tf buys a used car from someone without signing the title over?

37

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago edited 2d ago

Per the article: "Spillway presented TJ with both a bill of sale and registration, giving TJ every reason to believe the purchase was legitimate"

Probably looked okay to a young college student. I just bought a used truck in full (after trading in another vehicle) and never saw the title until a new one was finally mailed to me. But this was at a legitimate Toyota dealership, not one of those sketchy buy here pay here lots.

3

u/-Dakia Iowa Hawkeyes • Sickos 2d ago

I’ve done some pretty weird transactions for older Jeeps over the years. There was definitely one where I was really relieved when the title actually showed up

-10

u/LSNoyce 2d ago

A registration is not a title. And a bill of sale (receipt) means nothing if the product was fraudulent to begin with.

27

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago

Yes but young college student probably doesnt know that.

6

u/LSNoyce 2d ago

Good point. May have even been his first car purchase.

6

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago

Kinda crazy that these kids are just dumped a boat load of cash and need some help to not be taken advantage. I understand that going to a dealership can be scary and they try to rip you off with add ons, markups, warranties, etc but at least less likely to end with a stolen vehicle and if you somehow due the dealership will have to fix it, versus some dude he just disappears with your money.

When I was in college i scrapped together 2k to buy a used truck. Even I took a buddy along to help me look things over and make sure it was legit.

2

u/Beaux7 LSU Tigers 2d ago

You would think somebody at the program would help him with that. It may be a case of he doesn’t stay anywhere long enough to build relationships with people so he is aware they can help him with stuff like this

12

u/GloriaToo Oregon Ducks 2d ago

Honestly at that age I wouldn't have had a clue but that was over 30 years ago so information wasn't as accessible and I was a dumbass.

27

u/mayomayeaux Oklahoma State • Maryland 2d ago

This exact thing happened to a close friend of mine like a decade ago. It's so fucked up. It was his first car. Fortunately, cops understood the situation and he didn't get in any actual trouble himself. But he never ever got any of the money back. Lost around $4k. Awful stuff

6

u/Statalyzer Texas Longhorns 2d ago

Yeah there's usually no actual recompense for the victims - often even when they find the real perp.

62

u/Catullus13 Tulane Green Wave 2d ago

Ugh. Dude. Attorneys breh. Expensive and sometimes worth it

65

u/wit_T_user_name Ohio State Buckeyes • Ohio Bobcats 2d ago

Trust me, it’s much cheaper in the long run to involve your attorney sooner rather than later.

11

u/Catullus13 Tulane Green Wave 2d ago

I hear ya. It's a tough lesson to learn in your early 20s for TJ Finley

8

u/W00DERS0N60 Notre Dame Fighting Irish • Fordham Rams 2d ago

Billable hours remain undefeated.

14

u/KitchenBanger WKU Hilltoppers 2d ago

Guess he still needs to transfer

12

u/Bigbadbrindledog Auburn Tigers • SIAA 2d ago

He screwed up, everyone knows you are supposed to "buy the stolen item" BEFORE you transfer to Auburn.

I hope his story is true and this is just an unfortunate blip on the radar for him.

8

u/Bobson-_Dugnutt2 Sickos • Alabama Crimson Tide 2d ago

Honestly the most plausible explanation

9

u/J4ckiebrown Penn State Nittany Lions • Rose Bowl 2d ago

Figured as much. I hope the guys figures it out and gets this cleaned up.

6

u/sportstrap NC State Wolfpack • VMI Keydets 2d ago

This makes a lot of sense, no matter how stupid college kids are it made no sense for a decently high profile Quarterback for an FBS team with lots of NIL money to actually steal a car himself, especially when he doesn’t have a prior criminal history to begin with

6

u/Lee-HarveyTeabag Idaho State Bengals • Oklahoma Sooners 2d ago

He still has eligibility?

11

u/Krandor1 Auburn Tigers 2d ago

this is his last year

16

u/billspit Clemson Tigers 2d ago

It would be, until this unforeseen hardship gets him a waiver, so he can transfer somewhere else and then make their other QBs transfer, too.

5

u/weirdbutinagoodway West Virginia Mountaineers • Big 12 2d ago

Every player that has transfered 3 or more times should get an NIL deal from U-Haul.

2

u/EmbarrassedAward9871 Penn State Nittany Lions • Sickos 2d ago

So he’s not transferring now?

7

u/agent-bagent Illinois Fighting Illini 2d ago

You're all handwaving this but totally ignoring that he put swapped the plate out on the car that was registered to another one of his cars.

You think he doesn't know about plate registrations, but he did due dilligence to get the bill of sale/collateral from the seller?

2

u/dts-five Georgia Tech • Clemson 1d ago

In my state when you register your car one of the options is a plate transfer, if you’re selling the car you already owned. You put the tag on the new car and have 30 days to submit the paperwork.

3

u/ModsEmbezzleMoney Alabama Crimson Tide 2d ago

My dad bought a car one time and left his current car to pickup later because they were gonna do some minor maintenance (in prep to sell it) at this non affiliated dealership.

The owner of the dealership sold my Dad's car to someone later that day. When my dad came back for the car the next day the owner tried to buy him off being like "here's your cut". Police tried to say it was a civil matter at first because the guy was lying saying my dad gave him the ok.

He apparently forged a bill of sale and all that jazz. The poor dude who bought the car from him got stopped by police weeks later once the legal ball started rolling. We got the car back and the guy had tricked it out. It had spinners, new interior, a fresh paint job, and new speakers. Shit was so funny in hindsight.

We ended up selling the car back to the guy who bought it, but we had to wait until all the legal stuff was wrapped up and he got some of his money back too.

The sketchy dealership owner had apparently done it with a few other vehicles too so it was a big whole mess, and everyone was trying to get their money back so this took forever.

1

u/b_m_hart Oregon Ducks 2d ago

Billable hours has entered the transfer portal.

1

u/AppMtb Appalachian State Mountaineers 2d ago

Didn’t he have a tag on the truck from another vehicle he owned?

1

u/LeonGwinnett Georgia • Summertime Lover 2d ago

I'll take this opportunity to say Squarepusher - Red Hot Car

1

u/Horizontal_Bob Ole Miss Rebels • Corndog 2d ago

So did he get a fake title too?

1

u/Eccentric755 1d ago

Doesn't seem like he's great with the decision making.

0

u/calmer-than-you-dude Ohio State • Youngstown State 2d ago

No...it wasn’t me, it was the one-armed man.

-1

u/Intelligent_Fig_4852 Auburn Tigers • Faulkner Eagles 2d ago

Same thing happened with Cam and computer but everyone likes to act like he stole it

-39

u/NoPlankton81 2d ago

A truck on FB marketplace? Jesus. There is dumb, then there is THIS kind of dumb.

46

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago edited 2d ago

I've bought and sold several used cars on facebook marketplace. He didn't wire the guy money. It was just an ad to go look at it. Craigslist is dead for used cars.

-1

u/Kan169 /r/CFB 2d ago

I bet you at least did a Carfax before committing.

-12

u/NoPlankton81 2d ago

Today I learned...

I haven't been on FB since 2016 when FB Marketplace was first getting started (or maybe it had been around for a while, I forget) and it was basically trinkets and furniture.

19

u/cougfan12345 Washington State Cougars 2d ago

You pretty much have to be on FB if you want to sell used things locally. Craigslist and Offer up are mostly dead. At least in my area.

2

u/NoPlankton81 2d ago

Interesting. Welp, I take back my original comment

0

u/nosotros_road_sodium San José State • Michigan 2d ago

Craigslist is still alive in my area. I've twice gotten rental rooms in the last 5 years through it.

4

u/Luka-Step-Back 2d ago

I only use FB for marketplace.

9

u/NoPlankton81 2d ago

Yeah - I didn't realize it had blown up into like a legit retail space where cars of these prices were being put up. I'll keep my original comment up for the people to downvote but clearly I have no idea what I'm talking about lol

2

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/PutinsLostBlackBelt Alabama Crimson Tide • Hateful 8 2d ago

What? Ive purchased a truck on marketplace and sone on craigslist of all things in the last 3 years. Both were great deals. Had no issues.

1

u/usctx USC Trojans 2d ago

Not knowing people commonly buy and sell cars on FB marketplace? Jesus. There is dumb, then there is THIS kind of dumb.