Crooked car dealers get house arrest for fraud

Peter Geoffrey Kennedy, 56, of Rusagonis, and William Cornford, 56, of Fredericton, didn’t pay off loans on trade-ins or took out loans against vehicles without telling customers

A judge said Friday two former used-car dealers who fleeced customers deserved time behind bars, but the law directed him to accept joint recommendations for community-based sentences.

Peter Geoffrey Kennedy, 56, of Bryson Road in Rusagonis, and William (Willie) Cornford, 56, of Murray Avenue in Fredericton, were back before Court of King’s Bench Justice Thomas Christie in the Burton Courthouse on Friday to be sentenced for multiple frauds.

Kennedy pleaded guilty last fall to 14 counts of fraud perpetrated in 2018 and 2019, while Cornford had admitted to two counts, both in 2019.

The crimes all stemmed from their activities as the co-owners of W&P Auto Sales Ltd., a used-car dealership that had been located on Riverside Drive on Fredericton until it shut down in the summer of 2019.