Pinnacle Business Management (Prev SRCI)

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All Pro Auto Mall owner indicted

12/30/2009 3:33 AM

By Linda Metz, Staff writer
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A Canonsburg auto dealer was indicted Tuesday for allegedly using another person's personal information to obtain financing for nine luxury cars.

Vincent A. LoCastro, 46, of McMurray, faces identity theft charges for allegedly using the name, date of birth and Social Security number of "a person known to the grand jury" to acquire loans that resulted in four banks losing more than $330,000.

According to federal prosecutors, LoCastro obtained the loans while doing business as owner of All Pro Auto Mall, 116 1/2 S. Central Ave.

Further details on the alleged crime were not available. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nelson P. Cohen, who presented the case to the grand jury, said the law provides for a maximum total sentence per count of 15 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both. LoCastro testified before the grand jury in March 2008.

State police and U.S. postal inspectors conducted the investigation leading to the indictment.

Early in 2008, LoCastro agreed to comply with a state consumer protection law regarding some cars that were improperly sold through the dealership. State Attorney General Tom Corbett had filed claims that LoCastro violated fair trade practices, consumer protection laws and Pennsylvania auto regulations.

The filing said his company misrepresented the condition of advertised vehicles and collected deposits for online auctions but failed to return them when purchasers did not complete a transaction. After LoCastro & Associates was removed as a qualified seller on eBay Motors, the company did not disclose its interest in vehicles offered for sale by using the name of an unrelated Pennsylvania dealership.

LoCastro signed a voluntary compliance agreement and paid $11,607 in civil penalties, the cost of investigation and filing fees and has returned deposits or security collected from consumers who canceled or breached sales contracts.

LoCastro remains free on a recongizance bond while he awaits trial on hundreds of charges filed by state police claiming fraudulent business practices at the dealership in 2007 and 2008.

LoCastro was charged in January. A trial date is scheduled for next month before Washington County Judge Janet Moschetta Bell.

In 2002, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused LoCastro and another executive of Pinnacle Business Management Inc., based in Clearwater, Fla., of misleading investors into buying Pinnacle's penny stock. LoCastro agreed to a settlement in which he was sanctioned but admitted no wrongdoing.

In recent years, All Pro Auto Mall has sustained more than $1 million in damages from three fires that investigators determined to be arson.

http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/12-30-2009-LoCastro-indictment


McMurray man indicted on identity theft charges
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A federal grand jury yesterday indicted a McMurray man for allegedly obtaining another person's credit to get more than $330,000 in financing.

Vincent A. Locastro is charged with nine counts of identity theft.

According to prosecutors, he used the name, date of birth and Social Security number of another person to get financing for nine luxury automobile loans.

The banks involved in the alleged fraud lost more than $330,000, the indictment said.

http://www.post-gazette.net/pg/09364/1024429-53.stm