The deputy mayor of Jersey City, N.J. was arrested by Port Authority police July 2 after being stopped in a rented 2008 Chevy Malibu that had been reported stolen, according to the Jersey Journal.

Deputy Mayor Kabili Tayari, charged under his given name, Randy Brown, was arrested in Jersey City on a charge of theft by failure to make proper disposition of property received. That is based on allegations from the Avis Rent-A-Car location at Liberty International Airport in Newark, said a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Tayari’s attorney said Tavari has been renting cars for a long time and said he intends to pay these bills. There was no intent to not pay them or deprive the plaintiff of property, the attorney said. The vehicle Tayari was in when he was arrested was returned to the rental service.

The offense of theft by failing to make proper disposition of property received is an allegation which, in this instance, refers to failure to return the rental vehicle, officials said.

A spokesman for Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said this is purely a civil matter with no intent to take the rented vehicle beyond the contracted time limit.

Tayari, 57, has been a Jersey City employee for the past 12 years, according to the Jersey Journal.