Pennsylvania auto dealer admits to theft plan

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A former auto dealer pleaded guilty Friday to stealing millions of dollars from his customers to support his gambling addiction.
Between September 1999 and October 2002, while he was business manager of B.J. Marchese Auto World in Limerick, Benjamin J. Marchese stole the identities of customers, relatives and friends to carry out the theft scheme, according to prosecutors.
"I had a gambling problem and it was just a nightmare. I am truly sorry," Marchese tearfully told Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill.
Marchese, 32, is expected to serve 29 to 59 months in jail on a charge of theft by deception. After he is paroled, he will also have to attend a Gamblers Anonymous program.
O'Neill also ordered Marchese to pay more than $130,600 in restitution to cover the costs of bad checks that Marchese wrote.
Others whose identities were stolen will be made whole through a $2.45 million settlement to a federal class-action suit brought against Marchese, officials said. The suit accused Marchese of improperly obtaining consumer credit reports and using them to obtain more than $4 million in unauthorized loans for vehicles that were never purchased or leased.
The settlement is expected to be finalized by a federal judge Oct. 4.
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