By Jeremy Walsh
Two Douglaston car salesmen could face prison time after falsifying a driver’s license to secure a loan for a customer, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Salvatore LoPinto, 29, of Bayville, L.I., and James Dangelone, 52, of Staten Island, were arrested at Bay Chevrolet Oct. 3 after state police and bank investigators determined they had forged a driver’s license to go with the loan application for a woman who only had a learner’s permit, the DA’s office said.
They face charges of grand larceny, forgery, criminal possession of a forged instrument, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing, DA Richard Brown said. They were arraigned Oct. 3 and released on their own recognizance, the DA’s office said. If convicted, they face up to seven years in prison, the DA said.
The incident began May 24, when a man and his girlfriend visited the car dealership, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA’s office. The salesmen allegedly borrowed the man’s driver’s license to run a credit check, which turned out to be insufficient for the car he was interested in, court papers show.
During the same visit, Dangelone allegedly convinced the woman to purchase a 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, court papers show. She gave the sales staff her learner’s permit and personal credit information, which LoPinto, the finance manager, allegedly combined with information from the man’s driver’s license, to fill out a complete loan application, according to court papers.
LoPinto allegedly told a salesman who questioned a discrepancy on the application, “Don’t worry about it. We need to do it this way because the owners don’t want us selling cars to people without licenses,” the papers said.
The bank, Wells Fargo, required a valid driver’s license to approve the $26,939 loan, according to the DA.
A DMV investigator noticed the discrepancy in the driver’s license information when the vehicle’s title was submitted in June.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
