Superstorm Sandy Scammers Indicted In "Loathsome" Financial Fraud: State Attorney General

TRENTON - A state grand jury on Tuesday indicted a Little Egg Harbor couple for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from more than 20 victims who hired their companies to repair or rebuild their homes after Superstorm Sandy, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said.

The victims paid the couple and their firms over $1 million, but instead Jeffrey Colmyer, 41, and Tiffany Cimino, 33, used much of the money to gamble and buy luxury items, Porrino said.

The couple and their companies - Rayne Construction Management Services. LLC and Colmyer & Sons, LLC -were indicted, and charged with second-degree conspiracy, second-degree theft by failure to make require disposition of property received, two counts of money laundering, second degree misconduct by corporate official, third degree financial facilitation of criminal activity and third degree tampering with public records.

They were also charged with filing fraudulent tax returns, failure to file tax returns and failure to pay taxes, according to Porrino.

"The couple allegedly used the funds to pay personal expenses, including jewelry purchases by Cimino, including a $17,000 diamond ring, and hundreds of thousands of dollars that Colmyer gambled at seven casinos in Atlantic City," Porrino said. "Meanwhile, they abandoned jobs, or in many cases failed to even start jobs, leaving many victims with uninhabitable homes."

Most of the funds that were stolen came from the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program, a Sandy relief program administered by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The RREM Program was the state’s largest Sandy housing recovery program and provided grants to impacted homeowners to cover rebuilding costs up to $150,000 that were not covered by insurance, other federal relief funds, or other sources.

“Colmyer and Cimino allegedly stole $700,000 from homeowners devastated by Superstorm Sandy, ruthlessly draining away relief funds the victims needed to reclaim their lives so they could instead use the money to bankroll their own gambling and luxuries,” Porrino said. “We have prosecuted scores of defendants for various types of fraud related to Sandy, but this case is by far the most egregious.”

Colmyer and Cimino posted bond of $150,000 each after their arrests and were released from jail. Since their arrests, the Division of Consumer Affairs has concluded its civil action against the defendants.

The DCA released an additional $776,000 in federal relief funds to the couple's victims, so they can hire new contractors, repair their properties and finally go home, Porrino said.

“Financial fraud doesn’t get much more loathsome than this,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “These defendants compounded the predicament of victims who were among the hardest hit by the storm, pulling the safety net out from under them.”

Second-degree charges carry a sentence of five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000, while third-degree charges carry a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. The money laundering and structuring charges carry sentences consecutive to the sentence for the theft charge, and carry potential additional penalties of $250,000 and $75,000, respectively.

The couple was arrested on Oct. 11, 2016, in a joint investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General and the New Jersey Division of Taxation Office of Criminal Investigation.

Those agencies were assisted by the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, which previously investigated the matter and filed a civil action last year against the defendants, alleging numerous violations of the Consumer Fraud Act and seeking consumer restitution and civil penalties, among other things.

Photos: Courtesy of the New Jersey Attorney General's Office