Kansas drug trafficker got a court-appointed attorney. Then he bought this sports car

Antoine Beasley was facing a slew of federal drug and gun charges when he claimed he was indigent and received a court-appointed attorney to defend him.

Then he went out and bought a $77,000 car.

The court was not amused.

When Beasley was charged in 2014 he claimed his monthly income was $2,000 and his expenses were $750. About a year later he bought a brand new 2015 Audi A7 3.OT Quattro for $76,715. On his credit application he said he was pulling in $10,000 a month. That was separate from his wife, a school teacher, who was making nearly $3,600 a month.

Prosecutors say Beasley did not make his car payments by check or electronic transfer. Instead, he used cash to obtain grocery store money orders totaling $1,347.62 each month. This spring, as plea discussions and sentencing approached, Beasley accelerated his car payments to $4,000 and $5,000 a month.

When the government caught on, Beasley’s response was that the feds had seized all his money — about $500,000 — when they arrested him, so he couldn’t afford a lawyer. And the case against him was really complicated, he said.

District Judge J. Thomas Marten had already sentenced the Andover, Kan., man last month to 63 months in prison for his admitted role in a marijuana importation and trafficking ring.

This week he ordered Beasley, 38, to pay the U.S. Treasury $34,649, the total amount he had paid so far for the Audi.

This story was originally published November 2, 2017 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Kansas drug trafficker got a court-appointed attorney. Then he bought this sports car."