Taunton Man Pleads Guilty in Connection With Vending Machine Scheme
BOSTON — The owner of a food and beverage vending machine company, KBL Inc., has pleaded guilty and been ordered to pay restitution for his role in a scheme that defrauded third party buyers of vending routes out of approximately $187,500, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.
Kevin Lennon, 54, of Taunton pleaded guilty Tuesday in Bristol Superior Court to Larceny (3 counts) and Publishing of False or Exaggerated Statements Prohibited (2 counts). Following the plea, Judge Raffi Yassayan sentenced Lennon to two years in the House of Correction with credit for 36 days served and the balance suspended for four years of probation, with conditions that include payment of restitution to victims named in the indictments, and that he will cease all sales, leases of or licensing agreements for vending machine routes or any other vending machine business-related services.
“This defendant sold false promises to aspiring small business owners on the strength of fabricated records and misleading agreements,” said AG Healey. “We are pleased that he will be held accountable for his crimes and pay restitution to his victims.”
Lennon is the President and sole officer of KBL, Inc., a vending machine company started over 30 years ago as a family-run business installing and servicing vending machines at commercial businesses, offices, hospitals, and other locations throughout Massachusetts. Over the last decade, when Lennon took over exclusive control of the business, he began focusing a large part of the business on selling off “vending routes” – locations where KBL had already set up and was running vending machines – to third party buyers. The buyers were individuals who wanted to purchase and run an established vending route as a small business and expected to collect profits from the sales of food and drinks from the machines.
In May 2022, the AG’s Office secured criminal indictments against Lennon, charging him in connection with a a sophisticated scheme in which he made false promises to three third-party buyers about expected profits from the vending machines using false promotions, fraudulent misrepresentations, and fabricated financial statements. Lennon pleaded guilty to defrauding three victims who purchased vending machine routes from KBL out of approximately $187,500 dating back to 2017. Lennon induced two victims to pay him tens of thousands of dollars for essentially worthless routes based upon fabricated documentation, including spreadsheets, of past profits at the vending locations they purchased. With a third victim, Lennon agreed to resell his routes and machines after they failed to perform as promised, but after entrusting the routes to Lennon for that purpose, the victim learned that Lennon resold one of the victim’s vending routes to a third party and kept all the proceeds of that sale for himself.
This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Gretchen Brodigan of the AG’s White Collar and Public Integrity Division and Victim Witness Advocate Megan Murphy. The case was investigated by Director of Financial Investigations Sallyann Nelligan of the AG’s Financial Investigations Division and State Police assigned to the AG’s Office. The Taunton Police Department referred the case to the Attorney General and provided valuable assistance to the investigation.
###
