Verbal agreements in small claims court

My girlfriend(Maria) made a verbal agreement with a friend of hers. The
friend(Richard) said he had bad credit so he asked Maria if she could
put some car stereo equipment under her credit and that he would make the
monthly payments. At first Maria didn\'t want to but after bugging her
so much about it, she finally gave in. So they went to a car stereo
shop(California Sound) and purchased the things. There are two
different receipts/contracts, one for about $3500 and one for about $5000,
together combining for a total amount of about $8500. Both of the recepits have Maria's signature on it and also the type of car that Richard has
because they were going to install all of the car stereo equipment in it.
Richard gave Maria his address so that once she start receiving the bills she
could just forward the bills to him. Maria received two different bills, one
for the $3500 and one for the $8500, except that the $8500 bill had an
extra charge of $1200 that Maria never agreed or signed for. Maria tried for
days to get a hold of him but Richard would never pick up his phone. When
she finally got a hold of him, Richard said that he wasn\'t going to pay
anything and that if she threatened to take him to court that he would
just say that it was a gift. We both think that he was trying to scam her
from the minute they met. They met about three months ago, and they became good friends. Richard would tell her all the time how his family and
girlfriend treated him so bad and that his dad would physically abuse him. But we just think now that he made all that up so that she could put those things
under her credit. That's why Maria decided to help him out because she felt
bad for him. We also believe that Richard got a hold of her personal
information and is now also commiting fraud. She just received another bill for
$5600 from another car stereo shop(Platinum Stereo). She never signed a
contract or any papers from that place. She has never set foot in that place. Now she has $17000 of bills and we don't know what to do. We really need some help. We have his name, we know where he lives, and car
information(Model, Make and Year). Please help us, we cry everyday
because we just don't know what to do. Thanks for reading this. Sorry if it's
too long.

Such agreements are valid--Based on what you say here, you could file suit against him (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered --