JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Shera Roberson needed a new car for her growing family, but instead is growing impatient.
“So you don’t have a car right now?” asked Action News Jax Ben Becker.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
“No car,” said Roberson. “The car is still on the lot.”
The mother of five thought she was leasing a 2008 GMC Yukon from Mainline Auto on Beach Boulevard in Jacksonville. She paid $4,000 with a money order and cash towards what she thought was a down payment, but had nothing to show for it, so she contacted Becker.
“Do you want to go over to the dealer shop now?” Becker asked.
CAPTIVE IN JAX: How a local woman escaped sex trafficking in Jacksonville and her warning to parents
Roberson said yes and a ride picked her up as Becker followed Roberson to the dealership
“So this is your car?,” Becker asked as they arrived.
“Pretty much,” Roberson said.
Burying the blame: Daughter fights to clear her mother’s name
Becker and Roberson went inside and Becker confronted a manager, only to learn there was more under the hood.
“Is she going to get her money or the car?” Becker asked.
“I don’t need you on the property, please get out of the property,” the manager said.
Action News Jax Investigates: JEA leader scrutinized for possible conflict of interest
“So your not giving her her money back?” Becker asked.
“It’s not us,” the manager said.
Roberson’s salesman was a man named Dan McCann, who briefly worked at Mainline Auto before the dealership says he was fired for going rogue. What Roberson didn’t know was that she was being taken for an unexpected ride by McCann, who has been accused of steering others wrong as well.
INVESTIGATES: Dispatch delayed in answering 911 call
In an Action News Jax investigation, Becker discovered McCann is now locked up under the name of Dana McCann at a federal facility in Brooklyn, New York.
Both the State Attorney’s Office and JSO tell Becker, “After receiving and investigating numerous complaints related to criminal activity by Dana McCann, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and State Attorney’s Office has obtained multiple warrants for his arrest – to include five counts of grand theft and one count of organized fraud. McCann is currently in custody in the Southern District of New York on a separate federal charge and we continue to work with our federal partners to ensure justice for our local victims.”
Victims tell Becker, McCann tricked them into paying cash and then made up excuses as to why their car wasn’t available.
INVESTIGATES: ‘Casanova Scammer’ cons women out of $750K
Remember that money order? Roberson had made it out to McCann.
Shortly after, Roberson exchanged text messages with McCann, who said the car needed an inspection because the “check engine light was still on.”
It also turned out that the company listed on Roberson’s contract -- Worldwide Commodities LLC -- had no affiliation with the car dealership.
INVESTIGATES: VA pulls GI Bill funding from Jacksonville’s CDA Technical Institute
Becker did some more digging and discovered via published reports that McCann is a serial con man with multiple convictions for fraud and served stints in prison for swindling people across the country dating back to the mid-1980s.
This includes in 2003, when he was sentenced to eight years in prison for a bogus $2 million real estate scheme in Massachusetts.
In 2018, McCann is shown on a website posing as a plastic surgeon in New York City, billing himself as “Dr. Dan.”
Eventually in 2019, he was briefly captured in South Carolina on a separate warrant out of New Jersey.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
“This individual was an agent, a representative of that car dealership,” says Action News Jax Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson, who believes the car dealership could be liable for what McCann is accused of doing to Roberson and other car buyers -- even if he allegedly planned to rip them off.
“If they are not doing a proper background check on employees, whose responsibility should it be?” Carson asked.
As for Roberson and the dealership, she says they should take some responsibility.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
“What’s your message about Mainline Auto?” asked Becker.
“Don’t come,” said Roberson.
Becker spoke off-camera to the owner of Mainline Auto, who suggested they would work with Roberson on a solution, but as of right now, the dealership has not provided Roberson with her car or her cash. Becker will stay on top of this developing story.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
©2022 Cox Media Group
