BANGOR — A new auto care business is about to open at the location where used car dealer Glenn Geiser Jr. operated a dealership until his license to sell cars was suspended by the secretary of state. The owner of the new business has the same home address as Geiser.
Gwendolyn Reddy, whose address is listed as 40 Oak Grove Drive in Brewer, is listed in Bangor business documents as the owner of the new Bangor Car Solutions, and her home is owned by Geiser, according to the Brewer assessing department.
Reddy arrived at the business location on Washington Street in Bangor in the same vehicle with Geiser on Wednesday afternoon, and he quickly entered the locked building.
“He’s just helping me,” she said of Geiser.
When asked if the two live together in Brewer, Reddy said, “not right now.”
Geiser’s dealership at 180 Washington St. — My Maine Ride — shut down in March for six months after he was charged with issuing fake inspection stickers.
Reddy recently put up a sign advertising her business and was inspected by the city on Tuesday, according to Bangor Code Enforcement Officer Jeremy Martin.
“We had some issues so they’re not allowed to operate yet,” Martin said Wednesday of the certificate of occupancy inspection.
The issues found by his inspectors are “routine,” the code officer said.
Reddy, who has four children, said the business is expected to open next week.
“We’re just doing service and detailing — everything from fixing an engine to brake jobs and oil changes,” she said. “And we’re cleaning cars.”
Cars will not be sold there, she said.
“Glenn [Geiser] has nothing to do with it,” Reddy said of her new business. “I’m trying a detail-service business to put food on the table.”
A vehicle purchased from My Maine Ride in August 2013 that had an inspection sticker but was deemed defective by Maine State Police investigators led to suspensions and charges against Geiser, Sgt. Bruce G. Scott of the Maine State Police’s motor vehicle inspection unit has said.
The evidence collected by Scott and other motor vehicle inspection unit officers led the secretary of state to issue Geiser a 180-day suspension of his license to sell cars on Dec. 20. He was charged with using counterfeit inspection stickers and Attorney General Janet Mills sued Geiser in February for unfair and deceptive trade practices in connection with his promotion and sale of used cars, some that did not pass inspection.
Geiser, 48, owns the My Maine Ride and former Bumper2Bumper dealerships in Bangor, and managed the former Bangor Car Care dealership, which was owned by his mother.
Geiser at first fought the license suspension, but later withdrew his opposition and was suspended from selling vehicles for 180 days starting on March 1.
The attorney general’s 10-count complaint, filed Jan. 31, alleges that Geiser and his dealerships targeted consumers with poor credit who needed financing, pressured them to buy cars that were not roadworthy and did not respond to customer complaints.
Geiser also was charged with 84 counts of using counterfeit inspection stickers as part of Scott’s investigation and in early February entered a no contest plea for 28 of the 84 counts, and paid a $7,000 fine the same day.
Because Geiser was charged with a vehicle inspection violation while under suspension, his and the My Maine Ride licenses to issue inspection stickers were revoked in September, Scott said. Because neither appealed the revocation within the 30 days allowed by law, “He’s revoked, the station is revoked and they can’t get it back,” Scott has said.
Bangor Car Solutions is advertising that it provides service, towing, detailing and vehicle rentals.
“There are no reservations on Mr. Geiser from detailing and servicing cars, but he’s not supposed to be renting cars,” Raphaelle A. Silver, secretary of state spokeswoman, said Wednesday about Geiser’s 180-day suspension to sell vehicles. “There are no restrictions on her [Reddy].”
Geiser’s attorney, Joe Baldacci, said Wednesday his client is not an owner of the new business “that I am aware of.”
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