Phony Contractor Conned Queens Homeowners Out Of Thousands: DA

FLUSHING, QUEENS -- A phony contractor will spend the next several years behind bars for scamming Queens homeowners out of thousands of dollars paid to him for repair jobs he never did, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Alfred Lakas, 63, of Flushing, was sentenced to up to 5 years in prison after he pled guilty on March 5 to bilking five homeowners out of $15,000 from 2012 to 2015, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

"The defendant misrepresented himself to the homeowners - claiming to be a licensed contractor," Brown said. "And once he gained their confidence, he conned the victims out of thousands of dollars."

Lakas - who did business as "Al's Heating" - presented himself to Queens homeowners as a licensed, qualified contractor specializing in air-conditioning, heating and other home repair work, according to the charges.

In his first scam on Feb. 28, 2012, Lakas met with a South Ozone Park homeowner who agreed to pay him $7,000 to install central air conditioning, the charges state. Lakas took a $3,000 deposit from the homeowner but didn't do any of the work he promised and never returned the money, Brown said.

In a similar April 2013 scam, Lakas met with a homeowner in the Douglaston-Little Neck area who agreed to pay him $5,000 to convert the heat in his house from oil to gas, according to the charges.

After reassuring the man he was a licensed contractor, Lakas took a $2,500 down payment for the work and never returned.

Lakas was arrested in July 2017 in New Jersey, but Brown noted he should serve as a cautionary tale to homeowners in search of a contractor.

"Consumers should be vigilant when hiring home improvement contractors by checking references and verifying licenses with the proper City agencies," he said.

Lakas was sentenced in Queens Supreme Court on Monday to 2-and-a-half to 5 years in prison and signed a confession of judgement for $15,000 to the five homeowners he scammed.

Lead photo via Shutterstock.