May 5, 2007 By Steve Ferris 3 min read

Greene County auto salesman Gary Thomas Howard’s license to sell vehicles was revoked and he was fined $1,000 because he was convicted of felony crimes involving vehicle sales while his license was active. The Department of State’s Board of Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salespersons issued its decision on May 3 and it takes effect June 4.

The state’s Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs brought the case against Howard after discovering in 2006 that he pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of theft by deception and deceptive device business practices in March 2000.

In 2006, Howard submitted an application to reactivate his license, which expired while he was serving a 14- to 28-month prison term for his conviction on a felony escape charge, according to the board’s decision.

On the application, Howard responded affirmatively to a question about whether he ever had been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor.

The board claimed it was not aware of Howard’s criminal convictions until it received his application.

He pleaded guilty to nine of the 38 charges, which were mostly felony counts of theft by deception and deceptive device business practices filed by the Greene County District Attorney’s office.

Howard was sentenced to 23 to 58 months in prison, ordered to pay $255,216 in restitution and fined $1,900, but was allowed to serve the prison term in a work release program.

Howard suffered a heart attack and stroke while he was in work release.

While he was being treated at the former Brownsville General Hospital, he failed to inform the court of his whereabouts and was charged with a felony count of escape in January 2005.

In addition to the 14- to 28-month prison sentence, he also was fined $1,000. He is serving a parole term that will end in November.

Howard works as a sales manager for his older brother, John Howard, at John Howard Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Waynesburg.

A condition of Gary Howard’s employment prohibits him from handling customer finance papers or doing any vehicle title work, according to the board’s decision.

The charges the District Attorney’s office filed against him stemmed from when he worked for another auto dealer that was not identified in the board’s decision.

That dealer was selling the business and Howard wanted to buy it, but did not have enough money.

According to the decision, he attempted to raise the money by arranging fraudulent vehicle financing loans for some of his customers.

Many were not aware of the loans.