RICHFIELD, N.Y. (WKTV) - Authorities say a brother and sister were charged earlier this week following a joint invesigation between the Otsego County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Division of Field Investigations Auto Theft and Frauds Utica Field Office and the Cooperstown Village Police Department.

Last week, a Village of Cooperstown Maple Street resident reported to the Cooperstown Police that the title to her 1997 Chevrolet motor vehicle had been stolen out of her residence. The investigation by the Cooperstown Police Department revealed that after the title was stolen, it had been forged and the 1997 Chevrolet pickup truck that had been at a County Route 25 residence in the Town of Richfield had been sold as scrap.

Early this week, the Cooperstown Police contacted the Otsego County Sheriff's Office and turned the investigation over to them. The Sheriff's Office and Utica DMV Field Investigation Unit continued the investigation and determined that Ashley Marie Oakley, 28, of Richfield Springs, forged the title holder's name on the certificate of title and her brother, Larry Elliot Bond III, 25, of Cooperstown, signed it as the buyer. Bond, III then signed another DMV form as the owner of the vehicle and sold it to an independent contractor who hauls for a Town of Frankfort scrap metal business.

The vehicle was then taken to the scrapper for destruction.

Bond, III was located working in the Town of Hartwick and taken to the Sheriff's Office for questioning where he was later charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, fourth-degree grand larceny, and possession of a forged certificate of title.

Oakley surrendered herself and was charged with second-degree forgery.

They were both arraigned in the Town of Richfield Court. Oakley was released on her own recognizance and Bond III was remanded to the Otsego County Correctional Facility on $1,000 bail.

If convicted, Oakley faces up to seven years in prison and Bond III could be incarcerated for up to eleven years on the felonies.