Poca Man Sentenced to Prison for Role in $4 Million Warranty Fraud Scheme

DOJ Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Stanley Clark, 68, of Poca, was sentenced to one year and three months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud Toyota of more than $4 million.  He will also be required to pay restitution to Toyota. 

According to court documents, Clark was employed as a transfer agent for a company contracted by Toyota to administer an extended warranty extension program where Toyota had offered to repurchase certain trucks for 150% of their value, so long as those trucks were owned by individual Toyota customers.  Clark admitted he was a participant in a fraudulent scheme whereby a Kentucky used car dealership, Big Blue Motor Sales, bought trucks at wholesale prices at auction, obtained hundreds of copies of Kentucky and West Virginia residents’ driver’s licenses, fraudulently titled the trucks in the name of those residents, and induced Toyota to repurchase the trucks at 150% of value.

Clark admitted that the execution of the scheme relied on him to coordinate fraudulent truck repurchase meetings, work with a notary to forge the false owners’ signatures on truck repurchase documentation, and mail the fraudulent repurchase documentation that induced Toyota to repurchase the trucks. Clark received a cash payment from Big Blue Motor Sales for every fraudulent transaction. The scheme participants ran 350 trucks through the scheme between 2013 and 2015, causing approximately $4.3 million in losses to Toyota.  Clark pleaded guilty to mail fraud in February 2020.

United States District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin imposed the sentence and noted that a term of imprisonment was appropriate in this case because the fraud scheme was not a short term operation and it involved hundreds of crimes completed over and over again.


United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia State Police, and the West Virginia Office of the Insurance Commissioner.


Former Assistant United States Attorney Stefan Hasselblad and Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew J. Tessman and Steven I. Loew are handling the prosecution.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:20-cr-00028.   

 

 

 

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