Fraudulent Sale- Do I have a case?

[Ric43224]

I purchased a boat from a Sheriff and made the mistake of trusting him to honest. He told me the boat worked fine and I believed because he was a person of the law he would be honest. He told me he had had the boat winterized and that he had had the boat out and running this year. I bought the boat without having a mechanic inspect because I trusted him and believed him -- BIG MISTAKE! He promised that on the day of the title change he would take me out on the water and go over everything.. Well the day of the sale, he conveniently made everything go wrong- first his wife was on the title and did not show- delaying processing by an hour and a half-until she drove in from where they lived-then he had me go to a title place that could not transfer the trailer title--he was a sheriff so I am sure he knew that was the case-- so we then had to drive across town to get that done-- taking yet another couple of hours-- by that time he had to go to work and the day was shot so he conveniently did not get to take me out on the water. Well needless to say, $17000.00 later on my first time out with the boat on the water I discovered the boat has a cracked block. I took the boat in for service thinking it was just the water pump- but no-- the technician states he will testify it was due to not being winterized-- and there are rust streaks running down both sides of the engine on the bottom of the block where the cracks are located-something that did not happen overnight and specifically because it was not winterized! The tech states it was there since it was cracked over the winter. We contacted the seller and he is ignoring me.. He essentially is blowing me off. I feel the boat was misrepresented as being in working order. He made the statement that he had had it winterized and I even had asked him to provide me with the person who had done in in case I would want to use them (which looking back he never did give me the name at the time of the sale or discussion when looking at the boat). I need to know what options I have. First and foremost I feel that as a Sheriff he should be held to a higher standard and he knew there was an issue with this boat- the mechanic states the boat had been taken apart and put back together-the outboard had been removed and the grease had not melted back-- so the statement to me that he had had the boat out and running was false as well-- if he had had the boat out and on the water the grease would have melted back into the system-- He knew there was an issue and lied about the condition of the boat. I have now replaced the water pump and two bildge pumps, repaired the gears, and am currently at $2000 in repairs-- tried to fix the block via epoxy--which failed as the crack is all the way through and water went into the inside of the engine. The replacement of the engine was estimated by Alum Creek RV at $6000.00. I feel the boat was misrepresented. If it was not functioning and had a cracked block it should have been disclosed. He stated he had it out and running. This was a misrepresentation and a fraudulent sale.
The motor must be replaced and I am facing $6000 more in repairs-- I will now have an additional $8000 in investment in a boat that was supposed to cost $17000.00 total.

What frustrates me more than anything else is that I was a fool and did not get a mechanic to go over the boat because I trusted this person- He came with his two kids to show me the boat. He was a Sheriff--someone I am supposed to trust and someone we hold to a higher standard of ethics. Obviously in this case he felt it was ok to screw me!! I do not feel I should have to pay for his dishonesty and feel he should pay for all the repairs and all the court costs associated with all of this! I have lost many nights of sleep over this... I am a trusting individual and believe that people are good-- obviously I have found a bad apple!! This guy was a snake and I was a fool.

Do I have a case? What concerns me is that I need to make sure that what I recoup is worth taking this case to court.. if I have to pay an attorney and do not win I am in worse shape..