FALLBROOK — A woman who defrauded customers of her Fallbrook-based Porsche restoration and resale business was sentenced Monday to one year and nine months in federal prison.
Andrea Nicole Doherty, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud for taking more than $827,000 from customers during the years after she took over the business, CPR Classic, from her father following his 2021 death.
Prosecutors said customers agreed to sell or purchase vehicles through the company, but either did not receive the cars they purchased or the money they were owed from vehicle sales.
The wire fraud counts to which Doherty pleaded guilty involved three specific car sales.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said one Porsche was sold to two separate buyers, with Doherty accepting payments from both without informing or paying the seller.
In another case, prosecutors said Doherty agreed to sell a car and accepted $280,000 from a buyer but did not provide the money to the seller. She later accepted $275,000 from another buyer and used part of those funds to pay the seller.
In a third transaction, prosecutors said a car was sold for $130,000 without the seller being paid or informed.
According to prosecutors, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the company’s vehicle dealer license in 2024, and about 50 civil lawsuits had been filed against Doherty by the end of that year.
In addition to her prison sentence, Doherty agreed to pay nearly $10 million in restitution to 66 people. Defense attorney Megan Foster wrote in sentencing papers that about 60 of those individuals fell outside the statute of limitations and therefore were not included in the criminal charges, but Doherty nevertheless agreed to make restitution payments to them.
Foster wrote that Doherty “enjoyed no personal enrichment” and was not living a lavish lifestyle like other perpetrators of fraud.
The defense attorney also wrote that Doherty inherited millions of dollars in debt from her father after his death and then made a series of misguided attempts to keep the family business afloat.
