Fraudulent contractor sent to jail

From the Times Ledger:

A Long Island building contractor has entered a guilty plea to defrauding Queens and Long Island homeowners and leaving a trail of unfinished home improvement projects, the Queens district attorney said.

“The defendant has pleaded guilty to having defrauded homeowners out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by taking money for construction and renovation work without finishing much of the work,” said DA Richard Brown.

Brown identified the defendant as Derrick Burrell, 49, also known as James Gray, of Saint Marks Avenue in Rockville Centre, LI, who worked under the name “A Team Property Service.”

He said Burrell pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny and scheme to defraud before Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron, who said he would sentence Burrell to an indeterminate term of 1½ to 4½ years July 20.

The DA said Burrell entered into a contract with nearly a dozen Queens and Long Island residents between February 2009 and July 2015, accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments and leaving residents with unfinished or never-started projects.

"Was licensed" contractor scammed old lady

From PIX11:

Joseph Battaglia claimed to be a licensed home improvement contractor when Virginia James hired him to renovate her small bathroom and replace a number of doors in her Queens home.

But a spokesperson for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs says “Battaglia and Sons Contracting license was revoked in 2013.” His new company, JAB Home Improvement, is also “not licensed” and is “under investigation,” says the Consumer Affairs Department.

We recently confronted Battaglia about a court judgment he lost to Virginia James for $4854.00 for failing to complete the bathroom renovations and not delivering the replacement doors.

“How come you haven’t paid the judgment?” I asked Battaglia. He claimed to be unaware the court case had taken place six months ago and that he lost by default when he failed to show up.

“You take advantage of the elderly. My mother was 80-years-old”, said Eileen James. It was Eileen’s mother who sued Battaglia. Tragically, she died just one week after filing suit, and Eileen continued the court fight on her mother’s behalf. “He made commitments to me that he was going to refund the money and fix what needed to be fixed. And of course, months went on. He never did anything”, said Eileen.

Fraudulent contractor busted

From the Queens Courier:

A Flushing contractor has been charged with scamming $10,000 in down payments from Queens homeowners for work he never performed, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.

Alfred Lakas, 57, allegedly took money from three homeowners for air-conditioning and other work to be done at their residences which he failed to do, and did not return any of the money. Lakas, who operates Al’s Heating on 172nd Street in Flushing, is also being charged with misrepresenting himself as being licensed to do the work, although he is not.

Lakas was arraigned on Tuesday before Queens Criminal Court Judge John Zoll on ten counts, charging him with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and scheme to defraud, among other offenses.

He was ordered to be held on $5,000 bail, and will return to court on Sept. 15. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

According to Brown, Lakas is accused of misrepresenting himself as a licensed professional to perform air-conditioning, heating, and other contracting work from February 2012 to June 2015. His complaining victims are three homeowners respectively from South Ozone Park, Douglaston-Little Neck and Kew Gardens.

He grifted granny

From Eyewitness News:

Some homeowners were looking to renovate their homes and found what they thought was the perfect contractor to get the job done.

Now they claim that contractor swindled them out of tens of thousands of dollars without finishing the work.

And this isn't the first time he's accused of running the scam.

"How much?" Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter Jim Hoffer asked.

"$38,000," said Carmen Grant, a Laurelton, Queens resident.

That's how much money Carmen Grant gave to a contractor to renovate her kitchen.

"Most contractors complete their job," Hoffer said.

"No, he did not complete his job. He left with my money and never came back," Grant said.