Resident in junkyard dispute indicted for vehicle record forgery

LACONIA — A local resident who is under court order to remove or rehabilitate derelict motor vehicles from his property is facing felony charges alleging that he forged documents to obtain registrations for multiple vehicles.

Robert L. Kjellander, 67, was indicted on 12 counts of forgery — all felonies — as well as 12 misdemeanor counts of tampering with public records.

The indictments were issued by the latest session of the Merrimack County grand jury, which considered evidence stemming from an investigation conducted by State Police Troop G, a specialized investigative unit assigned to the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

The indictments allege Kjellander forged documents pertaining to seven vehicles, ranging in age from a 1939 Buick Special and 1939 Dodge pickup, to a 1988 Jeep Wrangler. The indictments charge that Kjellander signed other people’s names to VIN verification forms and bills of sale related to five vehicles and to bills of sale for two other vehicles.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt. Rather it is a finding by a grand jury that there is enough evidence of an alleged crime to warrant bringing a case to trial.

City records list Kjellander’s address at 501 Roller Coaster Road, in Laconia, which is also the address listed in court documents dealing with the city’s civil complaint alleging that Kjellander’s large assortment of derelict motor vehicles, boats, trailers, and pieces of farm machinery constituted a junkyard.

The indictments, however, list his residence as Meredith, though they list no street address.

Kjellander argued that what he had on his Laconia property did not meet the legal definition of a junkyard because none of the vehicles or other items were for sale, and furthermore he intended to use the material to construct a cook shack, sugar house, blacksmith shop.

But a Superior Court judge, after a two-day trial, ruled that all the material constituted a junkyard. The court ordered that Kjellander comply with the city’s requirement that he either remove the derelict vehicles from his property or rehabilitate them to make them road-worthy and therefore can be registered.

On March 24, the judge ruled that if Kjellander failed to comply with the order within 30 days he would be fined $275 for every day he remained out of compliance.

City Planning Director Dean Trefethen said Friday the city is not aware that Kjellander has taken any steps to cleaning up the property and that if there is no progress in the next few weeks the city may need to go back to court.