A Common Pleas Court jury on Wednesday found an East Brady woman guilty of using deception to take ownership of a vehicle from her former son-in-law in 2018.

After deliberating for about an hour and 45 minutes, the jury of nine women and three men found Mary Dahl, 66, guilty of three felony counts of theft by deception and a misdemeanor count of securing execution documents by deception, and not guilty of a misdemeanor count of making unsworn falsifications to authorities.

The Butler County Detectives office filed the charges alleging Dahl sent notices, required by the state to transfer ownership of a vehicle, to addresses where she knew her former son-in-law, Samuel Donelly, did not live to take ownership of his 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which was eventually returned to him.

Senior Judge Anthony Vardaro told Dahl the theft charges have a combined maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine, and the securing execution documents charge carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He scheduled sentencing for Oct. 15.

On Sept. 18, 2018, Dahl filed a motion in civil court for involuntary transfer of vehicle ownership after claiming the vehicle was abandoned on her property, and she received no response from the notices the state Department of Transportation requires for such transfers.

Judge S. Michael Yeager granted the motion, awarding Dahl the Jeep in November 2018, but vacated that order and returned ownership to Donelly in July 2019.

Donelly was married to Dahl's daughter, who is dead, and has custody of their child, according to testimony from the trial Tuesday.

Donelly and a friend went to Dahl's property on East Second Street on July 23, 2018, to move out of home he used to share with his wife and daughter and to retrieve the child and Jeep. New Bethlehem police were dispatched to the scene for a possible hostage situation, and noted the Jeep was parked in the driveway blocked by another vehicle. Police said Donelly repeatedly asked for the Jeep and said a custody order and visitation agreement from Clarion County Court was in place, but he left with neither his daughter or the Jeep.

In the documents she submitted to transfer ownership of the Jeep, Dahl listed the address of Interstate Builders, a business she owns, on Kittanning Street in Butler and noted no other address for herself. She referred to the Jeep as being abandoned on her private property, according to the affidavit.

One of the notices about transferring ownership she was required to send to Donelly was sent to her home in East Brady, where he had lived, but moved out. The other one was sent to 123 N. Main St. in Chicora, the address of Chicora Firearms, a business owned by Dahl and her family that has an apartment above. Donelly told county detectives he never lived at the Chicora address.

Dahl testified that Donelly moved out without providing his new address, and said she thought he would eventually contact her about the Jeep. She said he didn't, and the vehicle remained in her driveway for the next three months.

Dahl said she followed PennDOT instructions for the involuntary transfer and sent the required notices to addresses for Donelly she obtained from PennDOT. The ownership information she received from PennDOT listed a post office box in Chicora as the address to where the Jeep was registered and the East Brady address as the home of the owner, Dahl said. She said she followed PennDOT rules for contacting Donelly, but got no response.