Swampscott car dealer pleads innocent to larceny, forgery charges; remains held on $25G

SALEM – A Swampscott car dealer who allegedly swindled three people out of luxury cars he had agreed to sell for them remains held at the Middleton Jail on $25,000 cash bail, after pleading innocent.Daniel Wright, 45, of 203 Humphrey St., Swampscott, appeared Tuesday in Salem Superior Court, pleading innocent to four counts of larceny more than $250, two counts of forgery and two counts of uttering a forged instrument.Assistant District Attorney Michael Patten insisted on a $50,000 cash bail, saying the case involved three separate actions from May 2010 through October 2010.Wright, he said, was the owner, operator and president of Sterling Motor Group, located at 70 Andover St., on Route 114 in Danvers, where he would sell new and used cars and vehicles on consignment.One woman went to Wright and wanted to buy a 2003 Mercedes and took out a loan for approximately $15,000 plus six months of an insurance premium for $3,000. However, in the meantime, the owner removed the vehicle from the lot on consignment and the car was gone. As a result, she was out of the money for the insurance and some of the loan she had paid, but never received the car.In another case, Wright allegedly sold a Jeep Wrangler that had been brought to the dealership.Wright apparently sold the Jeep to an Ipswich woman for $23,940, who took out a loan from a credit union Wright recommended and then forged both the seller’s and buyer’s signatures on the documents.Police seized the Jeep and gave it back to the original owner, but the title is being held by the credit union and the Ipswich woman is out $3,282 for loan payments, Patten said.Then a Melrose widow brought a high-end Mercedes S600 for him to sell on consignment for $53,000 because her husband had died of cancer and she needed an SUV to drive the children around.A Lynnfield man came on the lot and purchased it for $61,500 believing it was free with a clear title, said Patten.The widow came looking for the car and Wright apparently gave her $10,000.He had apparently forged her deceased husband’s name on the title documents in order to sell the car.Patten pointed out that Wright had been free on $5,000 cash bail out of the Salem District Court with the stipulation he not sell cars. However, he was caught by a Boston television crew on camera selling cars at a Framingham dealership, violating the bail order in March.Patten asked for $50,000 cash bail.Defense lawyer Jesse Dole said his client at the time essentially was “robbing Peter to pay Paul and made poor choices” as he urged the judge to set a $5,000 cash bail.He said the suspect has lived in Swampscott for 20 years, has a 4-year-old son, strong family and a brother who is a police officer.