ERIE, Pa. – A business located in Erie, Pennsylvania and three residents of Erie County, Pennsylvania, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Erie on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced Thursday.

The twelve-count indictment named Rick Weaver Buick GMC, Inc., 714 West 12th Street, Erie, Pennsylvania; Adam James Weaver, 40, of Fairview, Pennsylvania; Douglas Alan Grooms, 45, of Edinboro, Pennsylvania; and Adam Brayton Coover, 34, of Erie, Pennsylvania, as defendants.

According to the indictment presented to the court, from in and around May 2015, to in and around March 2016, Coover, Grooms and Weaver engaged in a scheme to defraud auto loans providers by utilizing two straw purchasers to buy vehicles in their own names from Rick Weaver Buick GMC. The vehicles would then actually remain in Coover’s possession. The three facilitated the scheme by falsifying the loan applications to make the straw purchasers appear more credit worthy and by not revealing that the straw purchasers were buying multiple vehicles at the same time. The value of many of the vehicles was also inflated to increase the funds received by the co-conspirators.

The law provides for a maximum total sentence of 240 years in prison, a fine of $3,000,000, or both for Rick Weaver Buick GMC, Inc., Douglas Grooms and Adam Coover and a maximum total sentence of 60 years in prison, a fine of $750,000, or both for Adam Weaver. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendants.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Erie Police Department conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case.