ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) - A North Carolina man who authorities say took more than $2 million from people worldwide to restore Pontiac Trans Ams without delivering the cars has been sentenced to at least two years in prison.
Prosecutors tell the Asheville Citizen-Times (https://avlne.ws/1Is1oVh) that 48-year-old Robert Allen McElreath pleaded guilty Thursday in Buncombe County to 30 counts of obtaining property by false pretense.
A judge sentenced the 48-year-old McElreath to a sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison. He also was ordered to pay more than $400,000 in restitution.
McElreath operated a company called Build a Bandit, which restored and sold late 1970s classic model Pontiac Trans Ams to resemble the car from the movie “Smokey and the Bandit.”
He was captured in Nevada after fleeing the county in 2013.
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Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, https://www.citizen-times.com
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