U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest | U.S. Department of Justice
Burlington, Vermont – The United States Attorney’s Office has announced that Robert McLane, a resident of Websterville, Vermont, was sentenced to 18 months in prison following his guilty plea to mail fraud. Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered McLane to serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison term and pay restitution amounting to $566,000. McLane is required to surrender to the United States Bureau of Prisons on April 4, 2025.
Court records indicate that between March 2019 and September 23, 2022, McLane worked at Formula Nissan, Inc., an automobile dealership in central Vermont. He held positions as Parts Manager and Director of Parts and Service. His responsibilities included overseeing parts and service departments, supervising employees, and managing orders for automotive parts through the Dealer Management System software with Nissan North America.
Starting around January 2021 until September 2022, McLane executed a fraudulent scheme by ordering vehicle parts from the dealership's supplier without entering them into inventory. These included vehicle suspension lift kits costing between $2300 and $2900 each. Instead of benefiting the dealership by selling these kits through proper channels, McLane advertised them on Facebook at reduced prices compared to their wholesale cost.
McLane sold over 200 lift kits nationwide using the dealership's Federal Express account for shipping. Payments were made directly to his personal PayPal account. This resulted in Formula Nissan and its insurer suffering losses exceeding $575,000.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Assistant Federal Public Defender Steven Barth represents McLane while Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples is prosecuting the case.
