DA: Garage owner sold client's cars

The owner of a Glen Cove antique car restoration and storage business was arrested Thursday after, prosecutors said, he sold three of one client's 1930-era automobiles without permission, then covered up his crime and continued to charge the man storage fees for at least seven years.

Joseph Simeone, 71, of Torrington, Conn., was arrested by Nassau district attorney investigators and charged with second-degree grand larceny, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Simeone, the owner of Simeone Classic Cars Inc., worked on up to 10 cars for the victim starting in the mid-1990s, prosecutors said.

Sometime between 1997 and 2004, he sold three of the antique cars without permission: a 1934 Ford Roadster in 1997 for about $40,000, a 1936 Ford Phaeton in 2001 for about $26,500, and a 1939 Ford Cabriolet convertible in 2004 for about $40,000, authorities said.

To cover his tracks, prosecutors said, Simeone obtained shells of similar antique model cars and covered them with protective tarps to fool the victim into thinking they were the original vehicles.

The shells were kept in difficult-to-reach locations in the back of the garage, prosecutors said. Simeone charged the victim storage fees through 2010 for the vehicles he had sold years before, authorities said. In total, Simeone stole more than $250,000 in antique cars and cash from the victim, prosecutors said. The cars have not yet been tracked down.

The theft was initially uncovered in October 2010 by a private investigator hired by the victim, prosecutors said.

SEE PHOTOSNotable LI crimes

After the private detective discovered that the victim's vehicles were gone, the victim contacted the district attorney's office.Simeone, who is represented by the Nassau Legal Aid Society, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday, and was held on $25,000 cash bail or bond.