CHICAGO — A Chicago-area dealer was convicted of 11 counts of mail and wire fraud in federal court last week after a finance department employee turned state’s evidence and testified against him. Glenn Stancil, the former president of Clover Financial Sales & Leasing Inc. in Roselle, Ill., faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

Stancil elected to go to trial even after his former boss and co-conspirator, Patrick McManamon, pled guilty to the same charges in November and Pamela Mendyk, a bookkeeper in the dealership’s finance office, agreed to serve as a witness for the prosecution to avoid jail time.

Mendyk’s testimony detailed a scheme in which McManamon, Clover’s owner, and Stancil, who ran the used-car department, persuaded customers to transfer ownership of their current vehicles to the dealership. The customers were told that the balances on their finance or lease agreements would be paid off; in fact, the cars were sold on credit or leased to new customers and the balances went unpaid.

The prosecution alleged that the conspirators were then able to secure financing for new customers by presenting fraudulent documents to lenders. Evidence presented in court included altered titles and copies of checks that appeared to have been used to pay off loan and lease balances.

The fraud became apparent after several customers were unable to obtain license plates or new titles for the resold vehicles. Investigators discovered that at least 127 vehicles were fraudulently obtained and resold between March 2005 and December 2006, resulting in total damages to customers and lenders of approximately $2.25 million.

Stancil and McManamon are free on bond and awaiting a forfeiture hearing that will determine when and how restitution can be made. The pair will face sentencing shortly thereafter. In exchange for her testimony, fraud charges against Mendyk will be dropped if she is able to successfully complete a year of probation.