Farmer City Man Guilty of $4.7M Boat Fraud Scheme

A Peoria, Illinois federal court heard the guilty plea of Jeffrey D. Gibbs, 58, of Farmer City, Illinois, to six felony charges related to a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud local boat owners and the banks that financed his business on May 14, 2024.

Gibbs and co-defendant Kara M. Wilkey, 49, of Maroa, Illinois, were indicted in December 2020 with multiple counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Wilkey pleaded guilty to six of the charges in August 2021.

Sentencings for both Gibbs and Wilkey have been scheduled for September 19, 2024, at 9:00 am in the U.S. Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois before U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid.

Gibbs and Wilkey were two employees of the now-defunct boat and watercraft dealership, Mid Illinois Boats, Inc., which did business as Clinton Marine II. They used the dealership to defraud customers and lending institutions out of approximately $4.7 million.

According to court documents, Gibbs and Wilkey admitted to using their positions to carry out a fraud involving floorplan financing from January 2014 to July 2019. This included obtaining loans on fictitious boats and false transactions, taking out loans using forged signatures, selling boats on behalf of customers but not paying off the customer’s loan or remitting payment to the seller, and collecting payment for taxes, titles, and fees but failing to pay those expenses.

Gibbs pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces total statutory penalties of up to 102 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $1,250,000, or twice the loss to the victims, and up to four years’ supervised release upon completion of imprisonment.

Wilkey pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. She faces total statutory penalties of up to 122 years’ imprisonment, a fine of $3,000,000, or twice the loss to the victims, and up to five years’ supervised release upon completion of imprisonment.

The case investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Field Office, with the assistance of the DeWitt County Sheriff’s Office, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the Illinois Secretary of State. Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas F. McMeyer is representing the government in the case prosecution.