Judge sentenced him to four years and three months in federal prison
Former Erie auto dealer Andy Gabler whose signature line on his many TV ads was, “Andy says, ‘Write it up,’ ” in reference to finalizing a vehicle sale was unable to close the deal in court on Thursday.
Gabler argued that his charitable donations, service to others and lack of criminal intent should spare him federal prison in a $1.7 million fraud he ran out of his Lakeside Auto Group.
Gabler was sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for his scheme, which defrauded a bank and other victims.
Indiana, PA / WDAD AM1450 & 100.3FM
Feb 12, 2021 4:23 AM
In U.S. District Court in Erie yesterday, a former car dealer was sentenced to 51 months in prison, two years of supervised relief, and a $5,000 fine for his guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. 52-year-old Andrew Gabler was also ordered to pay $1,696,210 in restitution to Indiana-based S&T Bank.
Gabler was the owner of Lakeside Auto Sales and Lakeside Chevrolet, which were liquidated to help S&T recover some of its approximately $1.88 million in losses. Investigators found that over a four-year period starting in January of 2015, he and his finance manager, Chad Bednarski, falsified documents indicating that customers had made down payments and that they had inflated customers’ incomes on loan applications. Gabler also sold extended warranties to customers and kept the money rather than turn it in, and he and Bednarski falsely reported sales to GM in order to collect rebates. The two did not inform S&T