Hull

BUCKHANNON — A Randolph County man is facing a felony charge in Upshur County after a multi-vehicle crash led to police allegedly finding an altered VIN tag on his vehicle.

Dustin Mitchell Hull, 40, of Pickens is charged with altering a VIN tag, a felony. He is currently being held at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $10,000 property/surety bond.

According to the criminal complaint, filed by Corporal T.R. Collins with the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, on July 10, Collins responded to a multi-vehicle crash at the intersection of Auction Lane and Brushy Fork Road outside of Buckhannon.

Upon arrival, Collins observed both a 2024 Hyundai SUV and a Green Ford Ranger truck with damage. Collins spoke with one of the drivers, identified as Hull, who stated that the SUV had turned into his lane of travel, the complaint states.

Hull gave Collins consent to search his vehicle, the complaint states. During the search, Collins stated that he found an “altered VIN tag under the windshield.” The altered VIN was “riveted in, with one rivet covering the first VIN digit.” A further search of the vehicle revealed a loose VIN tag in a notebook that had fallen out of the driver’s side door.

The loose VIN tag came back to a 1998 Ford Ranger 4×4 model that was supposed to have a West Virginia registration that had expired in 2009, the complaint states. When Collins asked Hull about the loose VIN tag, Hull admitted that he knew it had been in the notebook and that he had bought the truck “as is” from another individual.

According to the complaint, the riveted VIN tag came back to a 1997 Ford Ranger 4×2 model that was registered to a different person than Hull. Hull allegedly produced a title with the riveted VIN tag number and owner, stating that he was “currently purchasing the vehicle, but had not yet put it in his name.”

Further inspection of the vehicle itself revealed that it was a 4×4 model and did not display a West Virginia registration, but rather had “FARM USE” on both sides of the truck, the complaint states. Collins writes that when he returned to the office, he spoke with the registered owner of the loose VIN tag, who described the truck that was involved in the MVC.

A preliminary hearing for Hull has been scheduled for today in Upshur County Magistrate Court.