A state investigation into an illegal car sales scheme resulted in charges this month against a Lawrence man.

Shaktivir Manohar, 23, is charged in Douglas County District Court with one count of making a false writing and failing to show a complete chain of title for a vehicle.

Manohar was issued a court summons following a joint effort involving the Douglas County District Attorney’s office and the Kansas Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles. He is to appear in court Jan. 24.

“These charges are directly related to the illegal sale of vehicles on the streets of Lawrence,” Carmen Alldritt, director of vehicles, said in a news release.

Manohar allegedly was involved in what is referred to as “curbstoning” in the vehicle industry. It refers to someone selling vehicles as if they were a car dealer but without the required Kansas licensing. Curbstoners frequently falsify documents or don’t give Kansas consumers the protections for which the law provides.

There is a substantial amount of curbstoning activity in Kansas, and the Douglas County case is one of the first prosecutions targeting the problem, Alldritt said.