Judge denies delay in sentencing former auto dealer

SPOKANE – Former auto dealer Mark W. Gilbert will be sentenced September 8 in U.S. District Court in Spokane after his July 28 sentencing hearing was continued. On Friday, a judge denied further motions by Gilbert’s defense team to delay sentencing.

In April, Gilbert pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud in connection to a document associated with buying a home in Hawaii in 2014. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors have agreed to dismiss all other federal charges which include bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and making a false declaration in relation to a bankruptcy case.

Prior to buying that home, Gilbert, who moved to the Columbia Basin in 2002 from the Portland-Vancouver area, acquired auto dealerships in College Place, Moses Lake and Walla Walla, Washington; Milton-Freewater and Pendleton, Oregon; and Moscow, Idaho.

It wasn’t long after acquiring these dealerships that lawsuits began piling up against Gilbert. Allegations began to surface that he failed to fulfill commitments on repaying the city of College Place on the Commercial Way project associated with his Honda dealership. There were also complaints that he failed to promptly pay off customers’ trade-in vehicles, as well as additional lawsuits from credit companies charging that he violated agreements for replaying loans by using those funds for other purposes.

By the end of 2013, all of Gilbert’s auto dealerships had been closed. New ownership reopened the two dealerships in College Place and Walla Walla.

File photo

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Elkhorn Media Group

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