Ex-police chief charged with unprofessional conduct as used car salesman

Feb. 7—BERWICK — A former police chief in Sugar Notch Borough turned used car salesman was charged by the Pennsylvania State Police at Hazleton with selling vehicles without titles and tampering with PennDOT records.

Jeremy Paul Talanca, 47, of West Second Street, Berwick, sold at least 27 used vehicles from his business, Keystone Auto Exchange LLC, on Orange Street, Berwick, without fully completing or failing to complete title registrations and charging several customers a vehicle warranty when the warranty was not purchased, according to court records.

Talanca was arraigned by District Judge Brenda Hess Williams in Berwick on Tuesday on 133 total counts of theft by deception, tampering with public records, engage in unprofessional conduct, false promise of character and submitting false application for title registration. He was jailed at the Columbia County Prison for lack of $50,000 bail, online court records say.

Court records say at least four of the 27 customers who purchased vehicles from Talanca are older than 60.

State police initiated an investigation when three customers reported having issues with Keystone Auto Exchange after purchasing vehicles.

One customer purchased a 2014 Chevrolet Impala for $3,000 but actually paid $4,100 believing she also purchased a vehicle warranty. After having problems with the Chevrolet, she discovered she was never given warranty papers and Talanca ignored repeated phone calls, the criminal complaint says.

Another customer purchased a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox for $4,500 that included a warranty. When the vehicle began having issues and needed repairs, the customer took the Chevrolet Equinox back to Talanca and never returned the vehicle.

The customer also never received the title for the Chevrolet Equinox, the complaint says.

A customer who purchased a 2003 Buick Le Sabre from Talanca's lot on Dec. 28, 2023, had issues with the vehicle that needed repairs. The customer took the Buck back to Talanca and demanded a refund or the vehicle repaired.

Talanca allegedly failed to refund the Buick purchaser.

An auditor for PennDOT told state police she went to Keystone Auto Exchange to audit sales records on Jan. 17 when Talanca yelled at her for taking pictures, the complaint says.

The auditor told investigators, the complaint says, Talanca identified himself as a police officer and he knew his rights telling the auditor she needed to leave.

Other customers claimed the purchase price of vehicles they purchases where higher than the bill of sale believing they purchased a warranty.

State police in the complaint say Talanca was not a licensed issuing agent despite signing his name on required PennDOT sales and registration forms.

Talanca was police chief in Sugar Notch from 2017 to 2019.