Mineola, NY - January 29th, 2014 - Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that a New Jersey man pleaded guilty yesterday to taking $75,000 from a Long Island contractor for the purchase and installation of high-end windows without buying the items or performing the work.
Scott Brown, 51, of Point Pleasant, N.J., pleaded guilty on Jan. 27, 2014 to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. He has paid $75,000 in restitution and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 27 by Nassau County Court Judge David Sullivan.
“Unscrupulous business people who cheat their clients only make it harder for honest providers of goods and services to be trusted,” DA Rice said. “My office will continue to prosecute these cases to protect victims and to help ensure that honest business people are not tarnished by the actions of others.”
DA Rice said that in the summer of 2012, Brown, the owner of Retail Renovation, LLC in Manasquan, N.J., falsely represented by a Nassau County general contractor that he was an authorized dealer of Western Window Systems. The contractor agreed to pay Brown $75,000 to purchase and install the high-end windows in a new home project in Lido Beach. Brown told the contractor that he would have the windows ready for installation in approximately 12 weeks.
After receiving a down payment of $40,000 in July 2012 and the remaining $35,000 the following month, Brown deposited the money into his bank account without ever ordering the windows. Brown’s bank records indicate that he used some of the stolen funds to pay personal expenses such as credit card payments, fishing gear, restaurants, and trips to Florida, as well as for business supplies and industry vendors.
Brown returned to the Lido Beach site in December 2012 and told the contractor that he had never ordered the windows because his sister had stolen the money. Demands for the return of the money and repeated attempts to contact Brown thereafter were unsuccessful. The contractor subsequently contacted DA Rice’s office.
Assistant District Attorney Victoria Curran of the DA’s Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau is prosecuting the case. Brown is represented by Edward Robertson, Esq.
