CRANBERRY TWP — A Cranberry Township man accused of renting out customers’ cars instead of repairing them saw 12 new felony charges against him held for Common Pleas court Friday, April 14, as well as three more cases moving to district court.

Keith R. Smith, 66, had his charges amended to include six counts of felony theft by deception and six counts of felony receiving stolen property in a series of incidents spanning from August 2022 to January.

In addition, Smith was arraigned in three more cases during this preliminary hearing. Over 10 cars are now involved in the cases concerning Smith.

The preliminary hearing for the most recent cases is scheduled May 19.

Smith operates a repair business in the township called Oilology. According to testimony, Smith was renting out customer’s vehicles that were brought in for repair without their permission for as much as $300 a month.

Defense attorney Richard Witchko said Smith pleaded “not guilty.”

District Judge Kevin Flaherty heard testimony from 10 witnesses Friday.

Township Det. Matt Irvine testified that one vehicle owner, Paula Gamble, believed she had been “the victim of fraud.”

Gamble told the court she took her 2015 BMW Coupe to Smith on Jan. 2 to replace a bubble in her tire after hitting a deer. She returned not long after to have Smith complete over $4,000 in repairs to her damaged front end.

While the repairs were completed, Gamble rented a used Subaru Tribeca from Smith.

Another vehicle owner, James Welsh, testified that he had brought that 2008 Subaru Tribeca and a 2009 Nissan Rogue to Smith in late 2021.

According to Welsh, he initially agreed to trade the faulty Nissan to Smith if he replaced the Subaru’s engine and inspected it.

Welsh finally reclaimed both cars and found that while the Tribeca’s engine was replaced, it had not been inspected and that both vehicles still needed costly repairs despite almost two years in Smith’s shop.

“When I contacted him, there was always some excuse, some reason,” Welsh said.

Vehicle owner William Acker said he received 15 to 20 rental cars over the last year from Smith while he waited for repairs on his 2013 Ford Escape.

According to testimony, one of those cars Acker rented was Shannon McCarthy’s 2007 Ford Edge, which had been in and out of Smith’s shop since 2021 for an ongoing issue with its oil gaskets.

As of Friday, McCarthy said, the vehicle was in her driveway “with an oil pan under it, leaking.”

Nathan Lalli said he brought his 2011 Acura to Smith’s for a timing belt change, and it was returned to him with about 4,600 extra miles on it, an unchanged timing belt, a series of dents and scratches, and a littering of hair ties, receipts and papers with the first and last name “Gloria Bowser” written on them.

Bowser had brought her own 2017 Ford Taurus to Smith for bodywork on Oct. 1.

According to her testimony, Lalli’s Acura was one of the seven cars she rented from Smith from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1.

Police said it was discovered that a number of other vehicles at Oilology that were lent to customers.

“They were all under the impression that their vehicles were in the shop being worked on,” Irvine said.