The Region - News from May 20, 1986

A Seal Beach auto exporter was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and given three years’ probation for illegally importing European luxury cars through his Long Beach car dealership. Andrew McCarthy, 41, pleaded guilty to four counts of making false statements to U.S. Customs officials. Government prosecutors said he recruited and paid people to let him order cars in their names because cars purchased for private use do not have to be modified to meet stringent U.S. emission standards. However, after McCarthy imported the cars, he sold the cars at his dealership. “I certainly learned my lesson and promise never to appear before you or any other judge,” McCarthy told U.S. District Judge A. Andrew Hauk in a Los Angeles courtroom. McCarthy is no longer in the car business, according to his attorney.