NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, May 3, 2022
Former Walla Walla businessman set for fraud sentencing
By ANDY PORTER
For the Walla Walla Union-
Bulletin
WALLA WALLA — A
former Walla Walla busi-
nessman who operated a
chain of car dealerships in
eastern Washington, Idaho
and Oregon faces sentencing
this summer after pleading
guilty to a criminal charge in
federal court.
Mark Gilbert pleaded
guilty April 20 to fraud in
connection with a document
related to the purchase of a
home in Hawaii in 2014. His
sentencing is scheduled for
July 28 in U.S. District Court
in Spokane.
Gilbert became a well-
known figure in the Walla
Walla business community
after coming to the area in
2002 from the Portland-Van-
couver area. By 2012, he had
acquired auto dealerships in
Walla Walla, College Place
and Moses Lake along with
dealerships in Milton-Free-
water, Pendleton a nd
Moscow, Idaho.
In exchange for the guilty
plea, prosecutors have agreed
to dismiss charges of bank
fraud, two counts of aggra-
vated identity theft and
making a false declaration in
relation to a bankruptcy case.
According to court docu-
ments, the charge Gilbert
pleaded to is a class A
misdemeanor with a maxi-
East Oregonian, File
The Gilbert Auto dealership in Pendleton closed in 2013 after filing for bankruptcy. The former owner, Mark Gilbert, pleaded
guilty on April 20, 2022, to a federal fraud charge and faces sentencing July 28 in U.S. District Court in Spokane.
mum penalty of one year in
prison, plus up to one year
supervised release, not more
than five years probation, a
fine not to exceed $100,000
and a mandatory $25 special
penalty assessment.
The plea agreement states
that prosecutors and Gilbert
“agree that the appropriate
sentence is a three-year term
of probation.”
A federal grand jury
indicted Gilbert in November
2017 after hearing evidence
presented by the U.S. Attor-
ney’s office which alleged he
made false statements for
a $745,000 mortgage loan
to purchase the home on
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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Cloudy, breezy and
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SATURDAY
Winds subsiding
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PENDLETON
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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The Dalles 70/44
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John Day
Eugene
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64/37
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Ontario
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Pendleton 54/32
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
65/42
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PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
59/42
Aberdeen
63/42
68/48
Tacoma
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Wenatchee
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Today
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Pendleton
Medford
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SW 8-16
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S 4-8
NE 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
63/33
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125 in College Place, which
opened in 2011. This was
accompanied by the city
constructing Commercial
Drive to provide access to the
business and a bank.
Gilbert’s business dealings
began to quickly unravel in
2012 after the city of College
Place filed a civil lawsuit
Baker County commissioners seek
proposals for ambulance services
By SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
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PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
61° 51°
the island of Hawaii.
The case has been contin-
ued numerous times due to
the COVID-19 pandemic,
medical problems Gilbert is
suffering and other issues.
Among Gilbert’s deal-
ings was construction of the
Honda dealership on prop-
erty alongside state Route
alleging he had failed to fulfill
promises on repayment of the
Commercial Way project.
Other lawsuits rapidly
followed by credit companies
operated by Honda, Nissan,
Ford and General Motors
alleging Gilbert had violated
agreements for repaying loans
by converting funds for other
uses instead of repaying debts
owed. These were accompa-
nied by other civil actions
from lenders and others
demanding debts owed.
Another action that came in
2013 was from the state Office
of the Attorney General.
In a complaint filed in
Walla Walla County Supe-
rior Court, the AG’s office
charged that four of Gilbert’s
auto dealerships had violated
consumer-protection laws
by failing to promptly pay
off customers’ trade-in
vehicles, resulting in some
buyers being forced to make
payments on both their new
vehicles and their trade-in to
avoid collection agencies and
repossession.
By the end of 2013, all of
Gilbert’s auto dealerships had
been closed, and in June 2014,
he filed in federal court for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec-
tion. The case was converted
in August 2014 to Chapter 7
bankruptcy protection.
The auto dealerships in
Walla Walla and College
Place have since reopened
under new ownership.
BAKER CITY — The
Baker County Board of
Commissioners took a
significant step last week
toward finding a new ambu-
lance provider for Baker City
and more than half of the
county should city officials
follow through on a plan to
stop operating ambulances
through the city fire depart-
ment on Sept. 30.
C o m m i s s io n e r s o n
Wednesday, April 27, voted
3-0 to approve a request for
proposals for an ambulance
provider for the Baker Ambu-
lance Service Area.
That covers Baker City
and about two-thirds of the
rest of the county, including
Baker and Sumpter valleys.
The county has three other
ambulance service areas —
in the Richland, Halfway and
Huntington areas.
By Oregon law, the county,
not cities, is responsible for
ensuring there is ambulance
service in designated areas.
Commission Chairman
Bill Harvey said during the
meeting at the county court-
house that with the city
having set the Sept. 30 dead-
line, county officials needed
to approve the RFP as part of
the preparations for finding a
replacement provider.
That’s likely to be a private
company.
The RFP will be posted on
the county’s website, www.
bakercounty.org. The county
will accept proposals from
possible ambulance providers
through June 3. The county
is calls for a minimum 5-year
contract.
After reviewing a report
from City Manager Jona-
than Cannon on March 22,
the Baker City Council voted
to notify the county that the
city intended to discontinue
ambulance service Sept. 30.
The reason, Cannon said,
is the city, as has been the
case for many years, spends
more to operate ambulances
than it collects in ambulance
billing. The shortfall aver-
aged about $730,000 for the
past five fiscal years, and the
city projects a $581,000 gap
for the current fiscal year,
which ends June 30.
Cannon said with ambu-
lance call volumes increas-
ing, he expects the city would
need to hire three more fire-
fighter/paramedics later this
year, which would widen that
financial gap.
Baker County, which is
giving the city $100,000 for
ambulance services this fiscal
year, has offered $150,000
for the fiscal year that starts
July 1.
Com missioners said
April 27 they have not
received a response from the
city to that offer.
Cannon, though, has said
he believes the city would
need about $750,000 to be
able to continue ambulance
services.
If the city does stop oper-
ating ambulances, the loss of
about $1 million in annual
revenue from ambulance
billing would force the city to
cut six firefighter/paramedic
positions. The fire depart-
ment is budgeted for 12 posi-
tions this fiscal year, although
two of those are vacant now.
Baker City Fire Depart-
ment crews handle far more
ambulance calls than fires —
about 80% to 85% of calls are
for ambulances.
NATIONAL EXTREMES
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High 101° in Vernon, Texas Low 10° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
IN BRIEF
Baker City resident warns
of Medicare phone scam
BAKER CITY — Phyllis Fox wasn’t about
to tell the fast-talking man on the telephone any
of the details on her Medicare enrollment card.
But she worries other people might be
temporarily fooled by the phone scam.
Fox, who lives in Baker City, said the caller,
who spoke with a foreign accent, told her Medi-
care would be sending her a new card and he
needed the information from her current card.
Fox said the call came on her home line —
she doesn’t have a cellphone.
After hanging up, she called a Medicare
office and spoke with someone who told her
the agency had been “inundated” recently with
questions about similar scam calls.
According to AARP, phone scams have
been common since the federal government
sent a new card to every Medicare beneficiary
between April 2018 and January 2019. The new
cards are designed to reduce the risk of iden-
tity theft.
Previous cards showed the person’s Social
Security number, but the new cards use a
unique, randomly assigned combination of
numbers and letters — the Medicare Benefi-
ciary Identifier.
In a common type of phone scam, accord-
ing to AARP, the caller asks the Medicare
recipient to verify personal information or
pay a processing fee to activate the new card.
According to AARP, Medicare employees
won’t call unless they’re responding to a legit-
imate request from a beneficiary.
— EO Media Group
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