One of my blog posts that has had the most views and comments is from May 28, 2010 and can be found at this link:
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3717763000184349948#editor/target=post;postID=4615810626068974929;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=3;src=postname
It deals with unlicensed contractors and many times I am asked by victims of unlicensed home contractors: what can I do, can I get them arrested?
It is the District Attorney that decides who to prosecute and of course the question is what motivates the DA to take action in one case as opposed to another. Earlier this month, the press reported about a Long Island man sentenced to 3 1/2 to 10 years in prison for stealing more than a half-million dollars from 13 Nassau County residents in a home-improvement scam and for putting up as collateral a property he didn't own. There were two different schemes apparently:
1. In the first scheme in which he took money for residential and commercial improvements, the unlicensed contractor pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheming to defraud.
2. In the second scheme, he used a property he did not own for collateral in a business deal, viz., he took $392,590 from a Long Island man, asked the victim to invest money into his business and then paid back only a small amount. There he pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny, also a felony.
From a reading of the article, it appeared that in the second scheme, involving one man, the defendant wrongfully obtained twice as much money as the first scheme which involved about a dozen different people.
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