Glen Head resident Angelo Stanco and his Glen Cove paving and masonry company were sentenced Thursday on wage theft charges and made to pay more than $170,000 in restitutions for forcing employees to kick back checks from the Department of Labor after the company failed to pay prevailing wages from public work projects.
The 59-year-old was convicted before Judge Helene Gugerty of petit larceny. His company, American Paving & Masonry Corp., was convicted of grand larceny in the third degree. Stanco was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and his company was sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge.
The Stanco and his company paid $171,278.02 in restitution to 18 former employees on Thursday.
“This defendant not only failed to pay his employees their fair and rightly owed prevailing wage but further victimized and bullied workers by shaking them down for checks they received as compensation from the State and threatening their future employment if they did not hand the checks over,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said.
Both Stanco and his company are prohibited from entering New York public work contracts until May 23, 2029 since the convictions were related to Brookville and Sands Point public work projects.
“Angelo and American Paving will continue to pay for their deceit,” Donnelly said.
The scheme began when Stanco acknowledged with the New York State Department of Labor Public Work Bureau prevailing wages owed to employees from public work projects, the DA said.
The state labor commissioner required Stanco and his company to give $102,631 to the Department of Labor for the prevailing wages and interest.
Then, the DOL issued 25 restitution checks to 22 paving company employees for the underpaid wages on Dec. 7, 2018.
Between Dec. 13, 2018 and Jan. 3, 2019, Stanco demanded several of those employees kick back the checks to him and his company if they wanted to keep their jobs at American Paving & Masonry Corp., Donnelly said.
Stanco allegedly fraudulently endorsed many of the checks and deposited them into his bank accounts, the DA said.
The kickbacks from the seven employees victimized in the scheme totaled $42,595.57.
The additional $128,682.45 paid in restitution accounts for the defendants’ wage theft on multiple public work jobs between 2019 and 2022 at the Glen Cove School District and the Villages of Great Neck, Great Neck Plaza, Flower Hill, Roslyn, Roslyn Harbor, and others.
“This restitution serves as a crucial step in rectifying the harm done and emphasizes our continued commitment to enforcing prevailing wage laws,” state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said.
