BY JOSEPH MALLIA | joseph.mallia@newsday.com
A home renovation contractor who accepted $9,500 from a Great Neck couple nearly a year ago to remodel their home was arrested Thursday and charged with grand larceny, the police said.
The Queens contractor met with the couple May 2 at their home, took and deposited their checks as an initial payment, but as of his arrest Monday he hadn't done any of the work he'd agreed on, the police said.
The contractor, Nikolaos Nerouliatsos, 55, of 58-46 230th St., Bayside, is charged with third-degree grand larceny. He faces arraignment at First District Court in Hempstead on Friday.
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NORTH HEMPSTEAD: Probation for former plumbing inspectorBY EDEN LAIKIN | eden.laikin@newsday.com
A former North Hempstead plumbing inspector was sentenced yesterday to probation and community service for his part in the unfolding building department scandal.
Joseph Lomonaco, 60, (pictured) became the second town employee to be sentenced in connection with the Nassau district attorney's 2007 probe into allegations of bribery, corruption and official misconduct.
He pleaded guilty in February to second-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a misdemeanor.
As part of the plea, Lomonaco admitted to filing architectural plans in 2006 with the town building department to build a second story on his New Hyde Park home, when the construction had been done two years before.
At the February plea hearing Judge Alan Honorof said he would sentence him to "no more than 60 days in jail."
Instead, Honorof sentenced Lomonaco to three years of probation and 200 hours of community service and ruled that Lomonaco's term of probation would end when he completed the community service.
Honorof ordered Lomonaco to pay restitution: $6,324 to the town for permit fees and penalties and $1,064.72 to Nassau County for taxes he would have paid had he filed the proper permits and had his home accurately assessed.
Lomonaco's attorney, Michael DerGarabedian of Rockville Centre, said this was not a public corruption case.
"It's about a private person who was supposed to file proper documents on his own house and didn't," he said.
"Judge Honorof . . . in sentencing could not have been more accurate and more just."
District Attorney Kathleen Rice agreed the sentence was fair.
"It was critical that we get as much money in restitution for North Hempstead and Nassau County taxpayers as possible," she said in a written statement.
"It was equally important that he be convicted of a crime and that everyone sees that insiders who cheat the system will be held accountable."
In NYC, filing for permits after the fact is par for the course. If you don't get caught, you don't bother filing for them at all. Certainly, no criminal charges are ever brought against anyone here for this type of thing.
3 comments:
Wow. "Acquire proper permits" is the remedy for building infractions here. This guy tried to legalize his alteration and got arrested.
Looks like a typical CB1 member, an Astorian absentee landlord, or an owner of a typical cafe full of sullen men found on Steinway Street.
Buddy, you picked the wrong sandbox to play in - go west young man, go west.
The home renovation contractor Nikolaos Nerouliatsos, of Nero BG Ltd has struck again, this time in Bayside Queens in April 2011.
He took my deposit a month ago, didn't show up for the work I contracted him for, and is now not returning my calls - a total breach of contract. This guy is a crook and should be put behind bars before he strikes again.
His business card shows this address: 58-46 230th Street, Oakland Gardens, NY 11364.
Buyer Beware!!!
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