Heather Wright/The Independent

One of the four people charged in the case which rocked the classic car community has plead guilty to a single charge of uttering a forged document.

And the three others facing charges after 200 classic cars were stolen and sold to unwitting car enthusiasts will be on trial sooner than normal.

In late 2023, Larry Grogan of Grogan Classics alerted Lambton OPP about a number of missing classic cars. May 14, the OPP searched a garage in Stirling, north of Belleville and found 16 of Grogan’s cars worth about $3 million . The seizures have continued and, at last word, police had reclaimed over $6.5 million worth of stolen vehicles, returning them to the Watford dealer.

The people who purchased the cars from the accused lost not only their cars, but the cash they infused into the purchase and refurbishment of the classics.

Robert Bradshaw, 54, Gary LeBlanc, 55, Michael McCrory, 58, and Charlotte Johnston, 53, are charged in the thefts facing multiple charges of theft, fraud, using forged documents and conspiracy in a Belleville court.

Police allege they resold the cars after using forged ownership documents.. 

County of Hastings and County of Prince Edward Crown Attorney Lee Burgess says Charlotte Johnston plead guilty to one count of uttering a forged document earlier this summer.  Johnston will return to court Sept. 22 for sentencing.

Meantime, Burgess says, the Deputy Attorney General has signed a preferred indictment as against Bradshaw, Leblanc, McCrory and Johnston.  A preferred indictment sends the matter directly to the Superior Court to be dealt with, without a preliminary hearing first.

Burgess expects Bradshaw, Lablanc and McCrory to be tried at the same time. It’s not clear when that might be.