A former Suffolk County resident accused of scamming an Old Westbury man into investing in a contracting business that accepted money for home improvement and commercial work that was never actually done pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony charges of grand larceny and scheme to defraud stemming from several alleged schemes.
Anthony Delmaro, 42, faces up to 10 years in prison and approximately $600,000 in civil judgments when he is due back in court for sentencing on July 9 before Nassau County Court Judge Alan Honoroff, prosecutors said.
Delmaro convinced the Old Westbury man to invest $392,590 toward his New York East Coast Roofing Corp. contracting business, using a Deer Park property that prosecutors said he did not own as collateral.
Prosecutors said New York East Coast Roofing Corp. was operated illegally and misrepresented itself to 12 clients throughout Nassau County by taking payments for repairs it never performed or completed.
Delmaro also faces similar charges in Suffolk and Westchester counties, prosecutors said. Sentences in each county will run concurrently.
“Over and over again, this defendant took the money of hardworking home and business owners with promises of repairs and profits on investments he had no intention of ever delivering upon,” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement. “By committing these crimes, he preyed on the desire of his victims to better their homes and businesses and provide for their families.”
Delmaro asked the Old Westbury man for his investment after finishing work on his home in 2007. He began paying off the promissory notes on the investment with three checks of $7,500 each, but stopped the payments around September 2007, prosecutors said, around the same time a $2,500 check from another of his companies, White Diamond Roofing, was returned for having insufficient funds.
Prosecutors said that the Old Westbury man was awarded a civil judgment for $422,527 in July 2008 after Delmaro admitted in a civil court disposition to never owning the Deer Park property and gambling the investment checks for New York East Coast Roofing Corp. in Atlantic City.
Delmaro between 2012 and 2013 entered into roofing contracts under various business names with 12 home and business owners in Nassau County, but prosecutors found that he neither provided materials nor did the work on those properties. He was arrested on May 22 in connection with the fraudulent contracts.
