Man Sentenced for Craigslist Classic Car Fraud Scheme

NORFOLK, Va. – A Los Angeles man was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for engaging in a fraud conspiracy to defraud purchasers of classic cars and muscle cars on Craigslist and other Internet websites.

According to court documents, Shakir McNeal, 45, and his co-conspirators Anthony V. Newton, Shaquana K. Taylor, Dewrel L. Burleson, and others, would post for sale listings on various Internet websites such as Craigslist, offering to sell 1960s and 1970s classic cars and muscle cars that they never intended to deliver to the buyers. The conspirators posted on Craigslist websites for Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Chattanooga, Los Angeles, Omaha, Peoria, and Atlanta. They would also use multiple telephones, telephone numbers, and email accounts to communicate with interested buyers, and would later abandon such telephone numbers and email accounts after successfully obtaining buyers’ monies.

The conspirators performed various roles, such as communicating with interested buyers, recruiting other conspirators to receive deposits and wire transfers from persons seeking to buy the vehicles, and opening new bank accounts or allowing their existing accounts to be used to receive deposits and transfers for the vehicles. These monies were then shared among the conspirators. McNeal and his co-conspirators stole $143,675 from 14 of his victims.

McNeal pleaded guilty in November 2017 and was originally scheduled to be sentenced in February 2018. After being placed on bond so that he could to return to Los Angeles to be with his ailing mother, McNeal failed appear for his sentencing, and the court issued an arrest warrant for McNeal. 

On June 12, law enforcement again arrested McNeal and returned him to Norfolk for sentencing. 

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:16-cr-55.