A man who managed to trick Tesla into giving him five of its electric cars for free has been sentenced to four years in prison, according to theThe man, 34-year-old Michael Gonzalez from Vermont, was able to get five brand new EVs from Tesla that were worth over $560,000 in total, the DOJ said. He later resold three of the cars for below sticker prices to unknowing purchasers, including a usedand buyers on eBay and Craigslist for about $231,900 in total, prosecutors said.
Gonzalez got even more crafty when he couldn't resell one of the EVs because Tesla didn't give him a certificate of ownership, the authorities allege. Prosecutors said he drove it onto a frozen lake where he set it on fire and later filed anclaim on the Tesla, saying he'd taken the vehicle onto Shelburne Bay in Vermont to go ice fishing at night. The claim was denied.
The Vermont man was able to trick Tesla's payment system by giving it the banking information for accounts with insufficient funds, including some accounts that had less than $110 in them, according to court records. The company then gave Gonzalez the cars before it was clear the man's banking accounts did not have the full funds to pay off the full balance.
After his fifth attempt in 2019, Tesla hired a company to repossess one of the Model Xs, but Gonzalez was able to evade the repo men and hide the car in a storage unit, according to the court documents.. He was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday and has been ordered to pay Tesla about $493,000, as well as another $231,900 to the government, court records show.
The 34-year-old has also faced legal trouble in the past, including over allegations that he lied on a federal firearms application, and aggravated assault with a weapon, according toA spokespeople for Tesla and the US Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont, as well as Gonzalez's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication.