Jun 17, 2010 By Josh Krysak 3 min read

A longtime Uniontown businessman is facing several charges after he allegedly sold a car despite being legally forbidden to do so. State police Trooper Timothy S. Karpiak said Francis J. “Chip” Palumbo III, 63, of 141 Belmont Circle was charged March 31 before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros with theft by failure to make required disposition, providing false information to transferee, employing an unlicensed salesperson, failure to collect required taxes, failure to pay required state taxes and engaging in the sale of a vehicle without a license.

Karpiak said Palumbo owns and operates the Palumbo Pre-owned car dealership in Morgantown, W.Va., but has been forbidden from selling vehicles in Pennsylvania for more than two decades after he pleaded guilty in federal court to tampering with the odometers on as many as 500 vehicles that were then sold at auctions, many in the surrounding area.

Following his guilty plea in October 1986, the state Board of Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salespersons revoked Palumbo’s dealer license on Aug. 18, 1989, and, despite his efforts in 2004 and 2008 to gain reinstatement as a car dealer, Palumbo remains forbidden from selling cars in Pennsylvania.

Karpiak said the new charges against Palumbo were levied when police learned that he sold a car for $1,500 to Joyce Thorpe, no address available, at his garage located at the intersection of Markle and Connellsville streets in Uniontown in February.

Karpiak said that Palumbo completed sales papers for the transaction as if it were being conducted in West Virginia and also failed to collect more than $100 in taxes and fees owed to the state from the transaction.

Additionally, Karpiak said that Palumbo failed to disclose the odometer reading to Thorpe at the time of the sale.

In 2005, the state Board of Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salespersons fined Palumbo $1,000 for being present during a vehicle sales transaction at the Perry Auto Auction in Perryopolis while his license was revoked.

He was last denied reinstatement as a certified car dealer in 2008 after submitting a request with letters of support from several members of the community.

In the board’s official ruling on the request, board members determined that despite Palumbo’s apparent good standing in the community, they were unable to grant his application for reinstatement.

“The board cannot overlook the fact that the petitioner’s criminal activities entailed the tampering with of 200 to 500 vehicle odometers. The sheer number of vehicle odometers altered in this scheme, which in turn were sold to unsuspecting customers, is staggering. The safety of those customers was jeopardized for no other reason than the petitioner’s own financial gain. This was a crime that took place in 1985 but had a rippling effect for many years after,” the board’s order states.

Palumbo is the father of city Councilman Francis “Joby” Palumbo III.

He remains free on $25,000 unsecured bond.

A preliminary hearing is set for 8:45 a.m. July 20 before Metros.