RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Two former car dealership employees were sentenced Tuesday in connection to a long-running fraud scheme.
Ronnie Joe Gomez, of Pharr, and David Salinas, of McAllen, were sentenced to time served and one year of supervised release on charges of wire fraud, federal records show.
The two men, along with George Villanueva of San Antonio, were arrested in 2019 in connection to a “long-running scheme to defraud companies, including financial institutions, in connection with car loans in the Rio Grande Valley area,” a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.
A federal indictment charged the men with devising a scheme by submitting falsified proof of customers’ income to purchase vehicles.
It was later announced by federal authorities that additional arrests were made in connection to the scheme. Samuel Sanchez, of McAllen, Soundra Lopez, of Weslaco, and Jorge Garza, of San Antonio, were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
