Sandy contractor gets 5 years probation, to pay $31G in fraud scheme

A home improvement contractor from Smithtown was sentenced to  5 years’ probation Tuesday and ordered to pay $31,110 for failing to make repairs to Suffolk homes wrecked by superstorm Sandy.

Lee Moser, 49, who was arrested in October and charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud, pleaded guilty in March. He was sentenced by Suffolk County Court Judge Timothy Mazzei. Prosecutors said he took money from at least two Suffolk homeowners but didn’t do promised work.

Moser misappropriated $42,500 from one victim and $19,720 from the second victim for a total of $62,220, the Suffolk district attorney's office said. If Moser fails to pay the remaining $31,110 in restitution during his probationary sentence, he could face a maximum sentence of 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison.

 "This defendant is being held accountable for scamming Suffolk County residents in their time of need and is repaying his debts to the victims,” Suffolk District Attorney Timothy Sini said in a statement Tuesday.

Moser — who faced similar charges  in Nassau — became so closely associated with the raft of reconstruction and recovery problems after the Oct. 29, 2012 storm that his name was included in Suffolk’s contractor “Wall of Shame” list kept by the Department of Labor, Licensing & Consumer Affairs.

The registry publishes Moser’s picture and notes that the home improvement license he used to run his business, Capstone Realty Holdings, was revoked in December 2016.

Moser’s attorney, Brian Trodden of Smithtown, could not be reached for comment.

The sentence comes two months after Moser pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud in Acting Supreme Court Justice Robert Bogle’s courtroom in Nassau, where Moser is accused of bilking at least five Sandy victims of $113,485, prosecutors said.

Moser is scheduled to be sentenced on the Nassau charges on Sept. 27, according to court records.

At the time of his guilty plea in Nassau, Moser was expected to be sentenced to 45 days in jail and 5 years’ probation if he paid $50,000 in restitution to New York Rising, the state agency created to distribute financial aid to Sandy victims.

Moser faced the prospect of serving up to a year in jail if he did not pay restitution.