Former Fredericton car dealer faces more fraud allegations, associate also charged

A former used car dealer in Fredericton is facing more allegations that he defrauded customers, and an associate of his has been charged with similar crimes.

William Cornford, a former co-owner of W&P Auto Sales on the north side, was charged Tuesday with eight counts of fraud, which allegedly occurred between October 2017 and January 2020.

Five of those charges were laid jointly against Cornford and Peter Kennedy, another former co-owner of the dealership.

Kennedy has also been charged individually with 10 counts of fraud for alleged crimes taking place between April 2018 and May 2019.

The two men appeared in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday morning before Judge Kenneth Oliver, who read out the charges.

Neither of them entered pleas, and Oliver agreed to adjourn the case until Sept. 14 to give them time to hire lawyers and review the Crown's disclosure.

The new charges are the latest to come out of W&P Auto Sales clients alleging the dealership never paid off liens it was responsible for under trade-in agreements.

The customers also claimed W&P Auto Sales re-sold vehicles with liens still attached to them.

Cornford was charged in 2019 with several counts of theft, fraud and forgery, and in April 2021 elected to be tried by judge alone in the Court of Queen's Bench on the 14 charges.

The dealership ceased operations in August 2019.

NextGear Capital, a financing company that serves auto dealers, also filed a statement of claim in the Court of Queen's Bench in 2019, alleging W&P Auto Sales owed a principal balance of more than $100,000.