A Scotland County judge threw out a request to lower the bond of a former car dealer accused of swindling his customers.

After listening to both sides at a bond hearing for Frank Silvestry, Judge Regina Joe had just one word to say — denied.

Public Defender Jonathan McInnis had asked the judge to decrease the Pinehurst man's bond from $2 million to $80,000.

Silvestry is in Scotland County jail awaiting trial on 26 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, 23 counts of embezzlement of state property and one count of felony conversion.

McInnis asked the District Court judge to reduce Silvestry's bond to an $80,000 cash bond with an additional $2,000 fee for each month Silvestry was out on bond before trial. This sum could go towards the hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution requests, he said.

The public defender said Silvestry's family could pay as much as $94,000 up front for the car dealer's release from custody, but could not afford any more than that.

The sum being offered could have an impact on Silvestry's grandchildren, McInnis said, which could preclude them from attending college.

The Pinehurst man would be bonded to his 115 Midland Road home and have severe travel restrictions under the proposed bond agreement.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Vlahos was quick in noting the state's opposition to the bond reduction, noting both the severity of the alleged crimes and Silvestry's flight from justice.

"This case involves an extremely fraudulent course of conduct," Vlahos told the judge.

The assistant D.A. said that Silvestry was purchasing cars with outstanding liens, or accepting them as trade-ins, with the contractual obligation of paying off the debt, something he failed to do. He then sold these cars to other customers.

This continued after General Motors pulled the floor plan from his business, Silvestry Chevrolet.

"He knew he had lost his floor plan financing," Vlahos said. "Despite the fact that he did not have the cash to pay off these liens, he continued to purchase vehicles."

Silvestry was writing monthly checks to these finance companies to keep them from warning the victim, the prosecutor said.

When people first found out about the outstanding liens, Silvestry told them that the issue was a "paperwork glitch" and that everything would be fixed in time, she said.

"He then sold these cars without telling people there were outstanding liens," Vlahos said.

The Department of Motor Vehicles wouldn't give out tags because of the debts still owed on the cars, so Silvestry was gave out multiple 30-day tags to victims, according to Vlahos.

"These financial companies are still holding these victims financially responsible."

The prosecutor told the judge that Silvestry was a demonstrable flight risk after his nearly three week run from the law.

An investigator with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles had made arrangements with Silvestry where he would surrender to authorities at the Scotland County Courthouse on the morning of Sept. 3.

Instead of making this court appearance, Vlahos said, Silvestry had his wife drive him to a relative's house in Aiken, S.C., a city of close to 30,000 people located more than 150 miles southwest of Laurinburg.

Before authorities could catch the former car dealer in Aiken, he fled to Savannah Ga., where local police caught Silvestry in a motel on Sept. 22, according to the assistant D.A.

Silvestry used the name Morton Bogen, a man who died in 2008, to get the motel room, Vlahos said. This is the same name he initially gave to officers, denying that he was Silvestry.

Officers found multiple fake identification documents, including a social security card, a health insurance card, an AARP card and a driver's license under Bogen's name, along with other documents, according to the prosecutor. Police also found a laptop and $4,500 in cash in his room.

Vlahos asked that, should the judge lower the bond, she not reduce it below $300,000, reiterating the prosecution's opposition to any bond reduction.

She said the figure is close to the preliminary restitution figure – $304,301.39 – noting that the amount could move up or down depending on information and forms the D.A.'s office is still waiting on.