York Twp. car dealers accused of defrauding customers of nearly $71,000

It began in May 2015 when six customers of the now-defunct D&M Auto Sales filed complaints about being overcharged, with York Area Regional Police. 

It ended this week with the state Attorney General’s office filing multiple felony charges, including operating a corrupt organization, against the operators of the York Township dealership and one of their employees. 

Charged were Dean Matthew Lake, 28, of Windsor Township, identified as the owner of the business; his brother Michael Lawone Lake II, 34, of York Township; his cousin Dean Michael Lake, 27, of York Township; Dean Matthew Lake's father, Michael L. Lake, 57, of Lower Windsor Township; and his office manager Ruth Hutchinson, 57 of Red Lion. 

All face felony charges related to operating a corrupt organization, deceptive business practices, theft by deception and conspiracy to defraud, run deceptive business practices and theft by deception. Hutchinson additionally faces a misdemeanor charge of tampering with public records. 

The dealership had previously been cited by the state for overcharging customers, an accusation that led to a fine, but not the filing of criminal charges.

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According to a criminal complaint filed by the attorney general’s office, Hutchinson told a detective that Michael L. Lake, who essentially ran the business, “was not satisfied with the amount of money being made from the sale of each vehicle, and therefore created a plan to overcharge customers to make additional funds.” 

The plan included inflating the sales price of vehicles after the sale by filling out a second sales form with the increased price and forging the customer’s signature and submitting the inflated price to the finance company. The business was double charging for fees and taxes and adding insurance and extended warranty fees to sales without the customers’ knowledge or consent, according to the complaint. 

For instance, the complaint describes one such sale in which a customer bought a Jeep Commander listed for $8,995. The dealership submitted paperwork to the finance company inflating the price to $10,975 and adding additional fees totaling $230.

In all, the complaint lists 64 sales in which the sales price was inflated, and fees were double charged. The amount of the overcharges ranged from $71 to $4,306, according to the complaint. 

All totaled, the complaint states, the dealership made an additional $70,993 between April 2014 and November 2015 by overcharging customers. 

Dean Matthew Lake told a detective investigating the case that the dealership altered the paperwork to make “the numbers to the bank look better, so the dealership received more money from the banks," according to the complaint. 

The attorney representing Dean Matthew Lake, Farley Holt, said the accusations could be traced to the person who handled financing for their car sales. "They, being the car lot, didn't start to have any problems until the dealership outsourced the financing for the business," he said. 

Previous problems

The dealership, established in October 2013 in the 2800 block of East Prospect Road, had previous run ins with state agencies for its business practices.

It was shut down by the state Department of Transportation in 2015. In May 2016, the state Department of Banking and Securities levied a $430,000 fine against the dealership for overcharging customers and ordered the business to reimburse 194 customers $113,198 for the overcharges. 

The suspects were arraigned Thursday and released on $17,500 unsecured bail each. 

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a Daily Record staffer since 1982. You can reach him at 717-771-2046 or at mike@ydr.com.