The United States Attorney for the District of Vermont announced that David Eisenhart, 44, of Barre, was sentenced today in United States District Court in Rutland to one year and one day of imprisonment based upon his guilty plea to a charge that he defrauded a Vermont credit union. United States District Judge Geoffrey Crawford also ordered that Eisenhart serve three years of supervised release following completion of his prison term and pay restitution totaling more than $68,000. The court ordered Eisenhart to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence on April 3.
On December 16, 2015, a federal grand jury in Rutland returned a three-count indictment charging Eisenhart with wire fraud and making false statements in loan applications. Last September, Eisenhart pled guilty to a related charge of bank fraud. According to the indictment, between 2011 and March 31, 2015, Eisenhart was employed as the business manager of Wilkins Harley-Davidson, a motorcycle dealership in Barre. Eisenhart handled all paperwork relating to motorcycle sales. He prepared bills of sale and collected cash, check and credit card deposits from customers buying bikes. According to the indictment, starting in about 2013 and continuing up through March 2015, Eisenhart embezzled more than $15,500 in cash deposits made by Wilkins customers. He then attempted to conceal the thefts by not reporting or underreporting the amount of the deposit in Wilkins' accounting system, and falsifying the dealership copy of the bill of sale to understate the amount of the deposit.
The indictment further alleged that Eisenhart made false statements to the New England Federal Credit Union in connection with his purchases of an SUV and a motorcycle. According to the indictment, in October 2013, Eisenhart bought a used Cadillac Escalade for $47,095. Two months later, he refinanced the purchase through NEFCU and obtained a loan for almost $59,000. He obtained this loan by submitting to NEFCU a falsified invoice which purported to show the purchase price of the Escalade had been $58,777 rather than $47,095. In May 2015, although NEFCU had a lien on the vehicle, Eisenhart sold the Escalade for $26,000 and pocketed all of the proceeds. Eisenhart obtained a clean replacement title for the Escalade under false pretenses, by submitting to the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles a forged document purportedly showing NEFCU had released its lien on the SUV.
Finally, the indictment accused Eisenhart of fraudulently inducing NEFCU to loan him nearly $12,000 to refinance the purchase of a used BMW motorcycle. Eisenhart had bought the bike for $8000 in July 2014. The next month, he obtained a loan for almost $12,000 from NEFCU. In connection with this refinancing, Eisenhart submitted to NEFCU a falsified bill of sale which asserted the purchase price was $11,983.
This case was investigated by the Barre Police Department and the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles.
Eisenhart is represented by Mark Kaplan. The prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples.