Mount Holly Woman Is Sentenced To More Than Four Years In Prison For $1 Million Car Loan Scheme

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Kimberlie L. Flemings, 51, of Mount Holly, N.C., was sentenced today to 57 months in prison and two years of supervised release, for her role in a $1 million fraudulent car loan scheme, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr. also ordered Flemings to pay more than $600,000 in restitution.

In October 2018, a federal jury convicted Flemings of conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, wire fraud affecting financial institutions, and multiple counts of financial institution fraud.

Two of Flemings’s co-conspirators, Stanley Reginald Barron, and Brian Lyles, previously were sentenced to 18 months and 15 months in prison, respectively, for their involvement in the scheme.

According to today’s sentencing hearing, filed court documents, and evidence presented at Flemings’s trial, from at least 2012 to 2015, Flemings, Barron, Lyles, and others submitted dozens of fraudulent automobile and personal loan applications in their own names, as well as the names of more than 30 other individuals, to at least 19 banks and credit unions. As part of the scheme, loan applications were submitted in the name of a deceased individual and a disabled, elderly veteran. To facilitate the fraud, the co-conspirators created fake automobile dealerships that purported to be the sellers of vehicles purchased with the fraudulent loans. The co-conspirators also set up bank accounts, websites, and addresses associated with these fake automobile dealerships, and created fictitious purchase orders, which were submitted to the financial institutions as part of the loan application. As a result of the fraudulent applications, the co-conspirators obtained more than $1 million in fraudulent loan proceeds. 

Flemings, Barron and Lyles generally deposited the fraudulently obtained checks from the financial institutions into accounts Barron controlled. After keeping a portion of the proceeds, Barron distributed the rest to Flemings, Lyles, and others.  According to court records, the majority of the loans defaulted, causing losses to the defrauded financial institutions.  To cover up the fraud, the co-conspirators made false statements to the banks and credit unions that attempted to collect on the debts, including that borrowers had been the victims of identity theft and that they had not authorized the loans.

In announcing Fleming’s sentence, Judge Conrad highlighted Flemings’ “many acts of fraudulent conduct” over the course of several years and emphasized the need to further the sentencing goals of general and specific deterrence and to protect the public from future crimes. 

In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Murray thanked the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Office of Inspector General of the Federal Housing Finance Agency for their investigation of the case, and recognized the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles for their assistance.  

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Ryan and Taylor J. Philips of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte are in charge of the prosecution.