PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Edward Scott Rock, 50, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to 41 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $1,457,617 in victim restitution, and a forfeiture judgment of $1,469,617 by United States District Chief Judge Wendy Beetlestone for a non-delivery sales scheme in which Rock accepted payment for, but failed to deliver, more than 100 vehicles and caused victims significant financial losses.The defendant was charged by indictment in December 2023 and pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud in October of last year.As detailed in court filings, between 2019 and 2023, Rock, a used car salesman in Northeast Philadelphia, advertised and accepted payment for, but failed to deliver, wheelchair accessible vehicles to dozens of unsuspecting customers. He repeatedly lied to clients, forged Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) compliance letters, fabricated excuses for non-delivery, sold the same vehicle to multiple buyers, accepted payment for non-existent vehicles, used family accounts to conceal his transactions, passed bad checks, stopped payment on refunds, and converted his victims’ funds into cash.Rock’s victims included people with disabilities and elderly customers, along with medical transport companies, senior living homes, and other small businesses. Altogether, Rock fraudulently took in over $2.5 million from more than 100 victims over the course of three years. While some victims were subsequently refunded, often with money received from the scheme’s later victims, over 75 victims remain unpaid and without their purchased vehicle, and more than $1.45 million in fraudulently obtained proceeds remains unreturned by Rock.
To induce buyers to purchase vehicles, Rock sometimes used a forged letter to falsely certify that the vehicles listed for sale were ADA-compliant and had undergone a conversion with a reputable manufacturer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles.On several occasions, Rock sold the same vehicle to multiple customers. After agreeing to sale terms and accepting payment from a customer for a particular vehicle, Rock continued to list, sell, and accept payment for that same vehicle again, this time from a new victim-purchaser.For example, Rock agreed to sell the same wheelchair-accessible 2017 Ford T150 van to 16 different buyers over an 11-month period between February 2022 and January 2023. He collected more than $330,000 in payments for this accessible van from various buyers, eventually delivering it to one purchaser without proper title, and leaving the other buyers without their vehicle.This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department Major Crimes Auto Squad and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General Bureau of Consumer Protection, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Samuel S. Dalke and Jessica Rice.