Cops: Man Wrote Bad Checks for 2 New Cars

A man already facing some serious charges for a gun incident in Falls Township is now facing additional charges in Middletown Township after police say he gypped a car dealership.

Bryan Maher, 43, of Makefield Road,was arraigned before District Judge John Kelly Jr. on charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property, and two counts of writing bad checks. He bail was set at 10 percent of $50,000; he is already in county on 10 percent of $250,000 due to the Falls incident.

According to court papers, Maher bought two newer Kias and wrote checks which later bounced.

Maher went to a dealership on East Lincoln Highway on May 28 and traded in his 2012 Kia Optima, which he recently bought from a car rental business. According to police, the trade-in was the down payment for a 2013 Kia Sportage and Maher wrote a check for $14,204 to pay for the remainder of the balance.

The very next day, the 43-year-old returned of the Kia dealership and bought a brand new $35,085 2014 Kia Sedona, police said.

Maher was able to drive off the lot with the new cars after he signed the paperwork and the wrote checks, according to court documents.

A few days later, dealership staff got word from the bank that Maher’s account did not have enough money to back the checks he wrote, police said. After contacting Maher, the dealership got no response and reported the incident to police.

Police spoke with Maher and he said he was expecting a large transfer of funds from a Yardley bank the next day and would write the new checks, court documents said.

The money still didn’t come, police said. They later learned the account at Maher’s bank was closed shortly after the checks to the dealerships had been written.

During an unrelated search of Maher’s apartment, Middletown police learned the 43-year-old had a large amount of vehicle title information, several computers and lots of banking information, according to court papers.

The vehicles are currently in possession of the dealership, but can not be re-sold because Maher’s name remains on the state paperwork.

Maher is accused of shooting at cars in Falls Township and making several “unusual statements”. Click here to read about that incident.