Jan 2, 2015 2 min read

Charges were filed against a Cambria County man who is accused of writing bad checks and forgery to buy a car from Tregembo Motors in Bentleyville, state police said.

According to police, Justin Michael Hickox, 28, of Cresson, walked into the car dealership Nov. 25 and initiated the purchase of a 2010 Ford Explorer.

Hickox provided a fraudulent pay stub allegedy from Tom Richey Transport of Northern Cambria as proof of employment and income.

He also wrote a personal check in the amount of $3,500 for a down payment.

United Auto Credit, the lending financial institution, initially agreed to fund the deal in the amount of $13,304.32, based on the income verified by the pay stub and the down payment.

The car salesman then turned the vehicle over to Hickox and submitted paperwork to the lending institution for processing.

However, when the bank contacted Tom Richey Transport, the personnel department said Hickox was no longer employed there and the paystub was fraudulent.

United Auto Credit contacted Tregembo Motors and told the car dealership it would not fund the deal.

The check Hickox gave to Tregembo Motors was returned by the car dealership’s bank because Hickox did not have sufficient funds to cover it.

Charges were filed against Hickox Friday and include theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, bad checks, forgery and securing execution of documents by deception.