Massachusetts Used-Car Dealer Sentenced to 4 to 6 Years for Defrauding 47 Customers: Guilty on 125 Counts, Ordered to Pay $340,381 in Restitution
Edward Cicciu, the former owner of a used-car dealership in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts, was sentenced on November 6 in court in Fall River. Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced him to four to six years in state prison, followed by five years of probation, and ordered him to pay $340,380.76 in restitution to his victims. Cicciu, 48, had pleaded guilty to 125 counts, 87 of them felonies, including 43 counts of larceny of more than $1,200 by false pretenses, 38 counts of failure to deliver titles upon motor vehicle transfer, 37 counts of forgery or misuse of motor vehicle documents, five counts of larceny of a motor vehicle, and two counts of larceny by check.
Prosecutors said the 125 counts represent 47 victims, most of them customers of the Bristol County Auto Exchange at 2388 GAR Highway in Swansea, which opened in August 2020 and is no longer in business. Cicciu admitted to a series of scams from 2022 to 2024, concentrated between May and September 2024: selling cars he did not own, selling the same car to multiple buyers, forging motor vehicle documents and license plates, selling cars that could not pass inspection, and cutting off contact when customers complained; on the occasions he refunded customers, the checks bounced. He was arrested in October 2024 and has been held at the Middlesex County House of Correction since.
Prosecutors described one case in which Cicciu met a grieving mother at her son's wake and offered to sell two of her son's cars, a BMW and a Maserati valued at $21,000. After moving the cars to his lot and saying they needed repairs before sale, the cars went missing and communication stopped; Swansea police found both cars at Cicciu's home, where he and his girlfriend had been using them as personal vehicles. The cars were returned, but the mother still paid hundreds of dollars in repairs and $1,700 to obtain a clear title for the Maserati, which her son had never received when he first bought the car from Cicciu. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Cheney called it the most egregious part of the case, and the judge called the conduct despicable.
Before sentencing, prosecutors had asked for five and a half to eight and a half years in prison, while the defense recommended up to three years. The judge noted that consecutive sentences on all 125 counts could theoretically total 504 years, and said Cicciu's guilty plea and acceptance of responsibility were a first step to redemption that earned significant consideration; he also warned that probation would be on extremely thin ice, that he would retain jurisdiction over the case, and that any violation would bring a much harsher term. After release, Cicciu may repair motor vehicles but may not sell them. Victims said some bought cars that were repossessed because they never legally owned them, some still lack clear title, and one man new to the United States said he is still repaying a loan for a car he does not have and must rely on expensive rideshares. Prosecutors cautioned that victims will likely never see the restitution paid. (Source: Bristol County Superior Court, Massachusetts)
Source: Bristol County Superior Court, Massachusetts
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：二手车销售场实景（示意图，非涉案车行）。DanTD 摄，CC BY-SA，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A used-car lot (illustrative image, not the dealership in this case). By DanTD, CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons.
