CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Two more cases were filed against Keith Smith, the owner of Oilology, an auto repair shop in Cranberry.
Since November, eight customers have come forward with allegations, and police have pressed a total of 41 charges against Smith and his business.
When Smith had a preliminary hearing in early December, he faced charges in four different cases.
“Did you know what you were doing was wrong?” Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek asked Smith on his way into court.
“Absolutely not,” Smith responded.
In a new case filed on Friday, police said a couple purchased a car from Smith in May for $4,400. Police said Smith agreed to make repairs and do an inspection on the car. Police said those repairs were never completed.
An independent state inspection was done on the car and found there was damage to the frame, the struts, and found wiring to the dashboard had been cut and manipulated to not show warnings and messages to the driver.
Channel 11 spoke with a different victim who purchased a car from Smith and filed charges last month, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“Oh my God, it’s absolutely frustrating,” she said. ”He doesn’t answer my texts, doesn’t answer phone calls, and when he does, it’s ‘Oh I’m working on it,’ or ‘Oh I have COVID’ or ‘Oh I’ve got this. I mean, it was excuse after excuse.”
In the other new case, a woman told police she and her husband dropped their car off for repairs and inspection on Halloween. Police said that while her car was at Oilology, more than 800 miles were put on it without their approval. Police said traffic cameras showed her car being used in Butler Township and the City of Butler.
Police said the woman found receipts from stores in Butler that weren’t hers, a lighter, stereo speakers, an empty oil container, and a ratchet strap in her car. Police said the work she needed to have done was never completed when she got her car back, and the check engine light was now on.
Channel 11 spoke with the first customer who filed charges with police against Smith last month after he found out his car was loaned to a woman while it was supposed to be getting repaired. It had thousands of additional miles put on. He also wanted to remain anonymous.
“There’s a lot of people who he’s done it to and sit there and go, ‘Wait, I didn’t have those thousand miles extra. What happened?’ For people like that, that’s why I want to push it more,” he said.
Smith was in jail for nearly a month, but he was released on bond on Friday.
As part of that bond, he is not allowed to conduct any business, and he is required to wear a monitoring device.
Before this year’s investigation started, he was hit with similar charges in 2023, too.
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