New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General

News Release

For Immediate Release
November 4, 2015

Contact:
Jesse O'Neill, Assistant Attorney General
Consumer Protection Bureau
Financial Fraud Unit
(603) 271-1196

Owner of Lancaster Auto Sales Pleads Guilty to Felony Theft and Fraud Charges

State v. Daniel C. Fournier

Attorney General Joseph A. Foster announces that Daniel C. Fournier, owner of Lancaster Auto Sales in Lancaster, New Hampshire, was sentenced today in Coos County Superior Court. Pursuant to the fully negotiated plea agreement, Mr. Fournier was sentenced to serve 4½ to 15 years in prison concurrently on the three felony theft charges. He was also sentenced to an additional 3 to 6 years on the felony forgery charge, with the entirety of that sentence being suspended for 10 years following his release from incarceration on the theft charges. Mr. Fournier was also ordered to make restitution to the victims of his crimes in the total amount of $398,226.96.

This case resulted from an investigation by the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Bureau. The investigation commenced after the New Hampshire Banking Department learned of irregularities in certain consumer loans used to purchase vehicles from Lancaster Auto Sales and subsequently referred the matter to the Attorney General's Office for further investigation. This case was prosecuted by the Attorney General's Financial Fraud Unit, which is enabling the State to bring more sophisticated criminal financial fraud cases.

The charges against Mr. Fournier stem from a variety of criminal undertakings that Mr. Fournier engaged in between August 2013 and March 2014. Chief among these undertakings was a refinance scam that Mr. Fournier perpetrated on thirteen customers of Lancaster Auto Sales, whereby he solicited these customers to refinance their outstanding auto loans, only to keep the entirety of the proceeds of the new refinance loans for his own purposes without paying off the original loans. Mr. Fournier also stole money from Passumpsic Savings Bank by submitting four fraudulent loan applications which purported to be for the financing of legitimate vehicle sales when in fact those sales never actually occurred. Finally, Mr. Fournier committed theft by failing to make required payments to his used car inventory financers after selling vehicles that belonged to them. Mr. Fournier also provided these used car inventory financers with forged sales contracts and assignments of title that purported to show transaction dates that were not truthful.

Not only did Mr. Fournier's behavior result in the theft of large sums of money from banks and commercial lenders, but it also negatively impacted the customers who were caught up in his refinance scam. These customers suddenly found themselves with two loans on the same vehicle and were faced with the choice of either trying to keep up with both loans simultaneously, or failing to make payments on one of the loans and suffering the resulting effects on their credit.

New Hampshire Department of Justice
1 Granite Place South | Concord, NH | 03301
Telephone: 603-271-3658