U.S. Jury Convicts President of Former Suburban Car Dealership for Scheming with Two Others in Fraud on Customers and Lenders

CHICAGO—The president of a former west suburban auto dealership was convicted of engaging in a fraud scheme in which he, together with the dealership’s owner and another employee, caused lending institutions, car dealerships and customers to lose approximately $2.25 million in transactions involving more than 100 vehicles. Glenn Stancil, once president of the former Clover Financial Sales & Leasing, Inc., in Roselle, was found guilty late yesterday on 11 counts of mail and wire fraud by a federal jury following a two-week trial in U.S. District Court, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced today.

Stancil, 39, of Lake in the Hills, who ran Clover’s used car department, remains free on bond while awaiting sentencing. He is scheduled to return to Federal Court at 10 a.m. Monday for a forfeiture hearing at which time U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo is expected to set a date for sentencing. The government is seeking forfeiture of approximately $2.25 million from Stancil and Clover’s former owner, Patrick McManamon.

McManamon, 50, of Elk Grove Village, pleaded guilty in November to the same 11 fraud counts and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18. A third co-defendant, Pamela Mendyk, 36, also of Lake in the Hills, who worked in Clover’s finance department, entered a pre-trial diversion agreement with the government, which provides that the fraud charges against her will be dismissed if she successfully completes a year of probation. She testified as a government witness at Stancil’s trial.

Stancil and McManamon each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of mail and wire fraud. Alternatively, the Court may impose a fine totaling twice the loss to any victim or twice the gain to the defendant, whichever is greater. Restitution is mandatory and the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

According to court documents and the evidence at trial, McManamon and Stancil persuaded customers to transfer to Clover vehicles that they owned or leased, by falsely representing that Clover would pay off the customers' loans or leases on those vehicles. McManamon and Stancil then sold or leased these vehicles to other customers, falsely representing that Clover had good title to the vehicles. McManamon, Stancil, and Mendyk arranged for lending institutions to finance the purchase and lease of vehicles from Clover by falsely representing that Clover had paid off prior loans and leases on those vehicles.

Between March 2005 and December 2006, McManamon, Stancil, and Mendyk caused at least 127 vehicles to be transferred to Clover based on false representations, failed to pay off the loans and leases on those vehicles, and caused losses to Clover's lenders and customers of approximately $2.25 million.

The defendants induced lenders to finance customers' purchases and leases of the fraudulently-obtained vehicles from Clover by providing the lenders with fraudulent documents, including altered titles and checks falsely purporting to represent pay-offs of outstanding loans and leases. When customers who bought vehicles from Clover had trouble obtaining valid license plates and car registrations, the defendants falsely represented that the Illinois Secretary of State was behind in processing and issuing titles, and that Clover's transactions were processed more slowly because it was not a large dealership.

The Illinois Secretary of State Police and the Illinois Attorney General's Office assisted in the investigation. The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Felicia Manno Alesia and Barry Jonas.