A former sales representative for a Huntingdon auto dealership has been charged by state police at Huntingdon with three theft-related felonies.
Crawford James “C.J.” Witherow, 38, of James Creek, is accused of failure to turn over cash payments and deposits made to him or turning over partial amounts of money while he was employed at Tri-Star Motors in Huntingdon. The alleged thefts in excess of $19,000 took place between July and Nov. 4, 2005.
Police have charged Witherow with theft by deception, theft for failure to make required deposition of funds received and theft by wrongful doing. He was arraigned Monday at the office of Magisterial District Judge Daniel Davis, Alexandria, and released on $5,000 unsecured bail.
In the statement of probable cause filed by state police, it is noted that seven transactions were handled by Witherow during his employment at Tri-Star. The total of alleged cash stolen was derived from “unbalanced deals in documentation from the dealership, statements of the general manager and the accountant and a written statement/confession from Witherow.”
A customer who purchased a snowmobile from the dealership in September first brought the allegations to light, according to the police statement. The buyer had not yet received a registration for the snowmobile. A file of the transaction between the salesman and buyer couldn’t be found.
Witherow allegedly confessed to the management that he hid the paperwork and took the cash. This led to an investigation within the dealership of other transactions made by Witherow. Several more thefts and altered documents were discovered, police stated.
Police said this case was completed to file charges due to the cooperation of buyers who were willing to be witnesses regarding the business information.
Police interviewed Witherow Nov. 5 and he allegedly told the troopers that he had been “juggling some cash around and got further in the hole each time.” He provided a list of transactions with police that were compared with the document totals discovered by dealership personnel.
“His amounts for the most part are consistent with that of the dealerships; however the total he provided is less that the dealership uncovered,” police wrote in the statement.
