By CRAIG FREILICH

SYRACUSE -- A Madrid man has been sentenced in federal court following his guilty plea to conspiracy to submit fraudulent sales paperwork to financial institutions while operating Parkway car dealerships in St. Lawrence County.

Gerald McDonald, 52, CEO and part owner of several St. Lawrence County auto dealerships, was sentenced to six months of home confinement, two years of probation, and paying $233,192 in restitution and fines. There was a maximum possible prison sentence of five years on the conviction.

As part of his guilty plea in March, McDonald admitted that he conspired with sales people and sales managers to submit false information to banks on consumer bank loan applications, according to the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian.

In order to ensure that a borrower who would not otherwise qualify for a loan would qualify, a co-conspirator sales person or co-conspirator sales manager would falsely state on the loan application that a cash down payment had been made on a vehicle, Hartunian said.

No such down payments had been made or were overstated in the financing applications, according to the prosecutor. As CEO and part owner of Parkway Country Polaris, Parkway Dodge Chrysler and Jeep, and Parkway Chevrolet and Oldsmobile, McDonald knew of and approved the use of this practice, Hartunian said.

McDonald was sentenced on July 19 in federal court in Syracuse by Senior District Judge Norman A. Mordue.