Tom Quick owner faces criminal charges

MILFORD - Abraham Wohl has civil and criminal legal issues facing him in Pike County. In addition to facing the execution of an $820,000 mortgage foreclosure against the Tom Quick Inn in the middle of next month, Wohl is due to be arraigned in County Court on a series of bad check charges. Wohl has been unavailable for comment, but Stroudsburg lawyer Wislaw Niemoczynski is representing him in the criminal case. The attorney does not dispute the unpaid checks. “The record is the record,” he said. But Niemoczynski maintained that things are not as they appear. “Our position is that this is not a criminal issue, but a disgruntled creditor seeking to collect on a loan ... a creditor who already holds some collateral.” That creditor is Milford chiropractor Dennis Short, and he says the only collateral he’s holding are the bad checks that Wohl gave him. “He’s already tried to get me to return them to him,” Short said. Short said Wohl is into him for about $36,000, lent over two and half years. “A lot of people around here lent him money,” Short said. Short, who worked at the inn in his youth, said he continued to frequent the bar and restaurant after Wohl acquired the place. He entertained some thoughts of buying the inn himself and initially maintained a cordial relationship with Wohl. His lending was based on Wohl’s maintaining that he was “any day” anticipating the completion of a large estate settlement, that would clear his debts. The settlement never came and Wohl’s checks in varied amounts to Short never cleared. In addition to the money he’s lost, Short says Wohl has also ruined the business, because he lost the inn’s state liquor license. Short claimed that there are no new liquor licenses to be had in Pennsylvania. Licenses can only be acquired from existing licensees “and they usually want to sell the business with it.” Short now believes Wohl was working a scam on the community from the beginning, “He’s a bottom feeder. He’s like a gypsy. People like that need to be found out,” he said. Pike County District Attorney Douglas Jacobs is handling the case. “I won’t comment on a case that’s still pending. All the charges have been bound over. A date will be scheduled for trial and we’ll see what happens,” Jacobs said Wednesday. No arraignment date has been set for the bad check charges. The inn is scheduled to come up for sheriff’s auction on Aug. 16.