Roofer Sentenced in Homeowner Scam
(DOB 12/11/71) of 44 River Street, Lindenhurst, New York, was sentenced September 11 Westchester County Court to an indeterminate term of 2 to 6 years in prison on his February 2014 guilty plea to two counts of grand larceny after being caught in Harrison for another attempt to defraud.
In addition a judgment and order of restitution for $507,390 was ordered by the Court.
The defendant owned various roofing businesses and in 2005 met the victim, an elderly semi-retired graphic designer who resided in his New Rochelle home with his sister, when he made roofing repairs to the victim’s home.
The defendant convinced the victim that he wanted to bring him in as a partner in his roofing business. The defendant convinced the victim to write numerous checks payable to his business on the pretext that the defendant would merely show these checks to potential customers as proof that defendant had funds to cover the purchase of supplies for new projects.
The victim wrote cash advance checks on his credit card accounts.
When the victim had amassed credit card cash advance balances in excess of $80,000, the victim attempted to obtain a mortgage on his property in that amount to pay off his high interest credit card balances.
The defendant and a co-defendant, Claude Naracci (DOB 08/07/57) of 7 Woodbine Street, Coram, New York, who owned a check cashing business in Connecticut, used this as an opportunity to steal the equity in the victim’s home.
Naracci pled guilty on March 28, 2011 to one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony, and was sentenced on June 30, 2011 to five years probation.
Naracci introduced the defendant and the victim to a mortgage broker on Long Island, New York. The defendant and Naracci attended the closing in March of 2006, where they convinced the victim to sign over said mortgage proceeds.
The victim believed that the mortgage proceeds would be used to pay off his credit card debt and to invest in defendant’s business, with the remainder being returned to the victim to use for whatever purpose he desired. The victim signed over all the proceeds to the Naracci believing him to be defendant’s “accountant.”
Thereafter, the defendant and co-defendant used the stolen money without the permission of the victim, for their own personal use.
The total amount of the larceny was $507,390.
Charges were filed in December 2009, at which point the defendant absconded.
With respect to the Grand Larceny in the Third Degree sentence, the defendant was subsequently arrested on an unrelated matter in November of 2013 after he returned to Westchester County and defrauded an 85-year-old out of $5,000.
The defendant was arrested on December 5, 2013 by the Harrison Police Department.
He is also facing additional criminal charges in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island.
Assistant District Attorney Brian Conway Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity Bureau prosecuted the case.
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