Terry Hanley, a former Bel Air Town Commissioner, received probation before judgment last week in a Cecil County case in which he was charged with theft.
Hanley, 47, who served on the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners for two terms, was charged by criminal summons in September with theft between $1,000 and $10,000 in connection with a business transaction he made in February 2011 as a manager of Ramsey Ford in Elkton.
Hanley entered an Alford plea in Cecil County Circuit Court last Thursday, Dec. 1, according to Maryland electronic court records, and was given probation before judgment. In legal terms, an Alford plea means the defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges the state has sufficient evidence to obtain a conviction at trial. Probation before judgment is a finding of guilt that can be expunged from the court record at a later date.
Hanley was placed on supervised probation for a year and is also responsible for paying the supervision fee and $145 in court costs, according to court records.
The incident relates to a transaction last February at Hanley's former employer, Ramsey Ford. In the transaction, according to charging documents, someone purchased a vehicle at Ramsey Ford and traded in a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina. The buyer gave Hanley $14,500 and Hanley gave Ramsey Ford $9,500 in cash after allegedly inflating the value of the Lumina from $2,000 to $7,320.38, according to the charging documents.
Hanley then tried to sell the Lumina to a wholesaler, according to charging documents.
Ramsey Ford notified police of the missing $5,000 in July, and Hanley wrote them a $3,500 personal check the next day. The business also withheld $1,600 owed to Hanley.
In his defense, according to charging documents, Hanley said what he did was common practice and he was holding the money while he waited to sell the traded-in vehicle to someone else. At the time, Hanley also told an investigator he was going to give the buyer the $5,000 in exchange for $2,300, which the investigator said "didn't make sense."
Hanley appeared before Cecil County District Court Judge Stephen J. Baker in Elkton on Nov. 2 to request a jury trial. He had a pre-trial conference scheduled for Thursday, the day he entered his plea.
Hanley, who lives in the 300 block of East Broadway, ran for re-election to the town board on Nov. 8, but received the fewest votes among five candidates and lost his seat. He left the board Nov. 21.
Hanley was contacted by telephone Monday morning and said he would call back later to comment. He did not, however, and could not be reached Tuesday.