I know car dealers get a bad rap, but it’s not like that reputation isn’t completely unearned. There are some real bad apples out there. Takes this now-former dealer out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Investigators say his practices and sales tactics bilked people out of their hard-earned money, and he’s being slapped with nearly 150 criminal charges.
Khaled Yaye is the owner and operator of Yeni Auto Sales in Harrisburg, and following an investigation by Pennsylvania State Police, he faces 144 (yes, one hundred and forty-four) charges for a myriad of things, including forgery, tampering with records, deceptive and fraudulent business practices, and issuing altered, forged or counterfeit documents and plates. Some of these charges, like forgery, are felonies, and others stem from the Pennsylvania Board of Vehicle Act for substantial misrepresentation of material facts in a vehicle sale, unprofessional conduct, and willful failure to display his dealership license, according to CBS News. From the looks of it, the Harrisburg native did every shady dealer practice in the books.
Violation on top of charges
If the 144 charges weren’t enough, 49-year-old Yaye also faces over 130 violations of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code related to the improper handling, reassignment and processing of vehicle titles at Yeni Auto Sales, a release from the PA State Police says.
Following the investigation by members of the State Police’s Troop H Vehicle Fraud Investigation Unit and the PA Department of State, Yaye was arraigned in court on February 24, and he’s got a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 10, according to PennLive. A judge set his bail at $5,000 before he was booked at Dauphin County Prison, where he was bonded out about three hours later.
This is hardly the first time a car dealer has been charged for pulling some nefarious crap. Last year, we told you about an employee who was arrested for stealing $200,000 in luxury SUVs right off an NJ Volvo lot.There was also the Florida dealer who allegedly committed an $8 million wire fraud scheme, and who could forget the dealer who kidnapped himself and blamed the Mexican Cartel to cover up $3.9 million in fraud? These guys are really something.
