Former Okla. Kia, Mitsubishi dealer gets nearly 11 years for fraud, tampering

A federal judge has sentenced a former Oklahoma Kia and Mitsubishi dealer to 130 months in prison for defrauding auto lenders and then tampering with the case after being convicted of those crimes.

Bobby Mayes, 51, of Norman, Okla., must also forfeit $1,018,322.17 in profits from the scheme after already having paid $1,160,825.72 in restitution, authorities said Nov. 3.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Friot sentenced Mayes to multiple 130- and 120-month prison terms in the fraud case and 65 months for tampering with it, all to be served concurrently.

"In announcing the sentence, Judge Friot noted the aggravating factors surrounding the lengthy underlying fraud scheme, but particularly emphasized the schemes to defraud the Court and the Government as part of his obstruction of justice following the trial," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma wrote in a news release.

Mayes' lawyer Billy Bock accused the U.S. attorney's office of reneging on a negotiated sentence within or even below a range of 108 and 135 months given his client's cooperation in the case.

"That was agreeable to everybody," he said.

But the prosecution asked for a $500,000 fine, which Friot rejected, and a sentence of 159 months, a duration suggesting identity theft convictions the court had later discarded, Bock said.

Mayes doesn't deny the charges involved in the convictions, said Bock, president of the William H. Bock Inc. law firm in Oklahoma City. "But he has not been dealt with in a fair fashion, or anywhere close to a fair fashion, since the onset of this case," Bock said.

Mayes "became a target" for authorities, Bock said.

"It was about winning," he said. "It wasn't really about what's fair."

Adam Snider, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Oklahoma, said the office declined to comment on Bock's account and said more information could be found in public filings, including the plea deal.

A sentencing agreement for the fraud cases contains the 108- to 135-month timeline described by Bock, though the plea deal indicates each count in the tampering case could mean up to a 20-year sentence and a $250,000 fine.
Mayes and co-defendants Courtney Wells and Charles Gooch were originally found guilty Nov. 19, 2021, of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and multiple counts of wire fraud, forgery and aggravated identity theft.

Federal prosecutors said Mayes' Big Red Dealerships group — which consisted of Big Red Sports/Imports, Big Red Kia, Norman Yamaha, Norman Mitsubishi and Mayes Kia — used a variety of deceptions from January 2014 to March 2019 to convince lenders to issue loans to customers with poor or no credit, a demographic the business had targeted. Mayes owned all five of the businesses and was the group's CEO. Gooch was compliance officer until 2018. Wells worked as the group's comptroller.

The jury convicted Mayes and Gooch on all 25 counts they faced. Wells was convicted on 19 of 25 charges; she was acquitted on six of the 12 wire fraud counts she faced. At the government's request, the court on Oct. 30 dropped all six aggravated identity theft charges faced by each of the three defendants.

Mayes later pleaded guilty to two additional counts of tampering with the case. He admitted to encouraging and providing funds for Wells to flee to Mexico while both awaited sentencing in that case, the U.S. attorney's office said June 26. Mayes also told the court he sent it an anonymous email in October 2022 with false claims to obtain a new trial.

This appeared to be a reference to an Oct. 5, 2022, email Mayes' counsel said described prosecutors speaking to and receiving more than 300 pages of text messages from a witness — exchanges allegedly not disclosed to the defense. Authorities called this email, which had been sent to the court, an attempt by Mayes to "gin up fake allegations of prosecutorial misconduct."

Wells has not received further charges in relation to her escape to Mexico. Her attorney told Automotive News she was returning to the U.S. when she was arrested in Mexico after discovering Mayes generated fraudulent emails saying she conspired with a government witness to commit fraud and hide it from Mayes. A third tampering charge against Mayes related to those records, which the defense had shared with the court following Mayes' conviction, was ultimately dropped.

Wells and Gooch cooperated with prosecutors and testified against Mayes, the U.S. attorney's office said. Wells is slated to be sentenced Nov. 9, and Gooch is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 14.

"Mayes and his co-defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud car buyers and lenders out of millions of dollars by misrepresenting the type, source, and amount of borrower's down payments and vehicle trade-ins. This long-running conspiracy resulted in significant losses to over 20 financial institutions, while hundreds of borrowers were saddled with debt they simply could not afford," Oklahoma City FBI Special Agent in Charge Edward Gray said in a statement. "The sentence handed down today should serve as a stark reminder that this level of greed comes with an even bigger price to pay."

The plea deal in the tampering case had largely waived Mayes' ability to appeal either case but didn't preclude it completely, Bock said. The possibility of an appeal was under discussion, though Mayes didn't have much appetite for a further fight, Bock said.

Mayes had "said his piece in court" and repaid victims, Bock said. "Now he's ready to do his time and get back with his family."