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June 11, 2017 -- Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. announced today that Michael Scoca (DOB 01/18/65) of 222 Centre Avenue, New Rochelle, New York was arraigned on three Felony Complaints in New Rochelle City Court and charged with:

• three counts of Identity Theft in the First Degree, class “D” Felonies and
• three counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, class “D” Felonies.

In late 2015, the defendant claimed he was a licensed general contractor and convinced a Bronx family planning to move to Westchester that he would build them a new family home. The defendant also convinced his victims to provide him with a total of five separate credit cards to pay for materials and construction costs for the new home.

Rather than complete the construction of the home, the defendant instead used his victims’ personal identifying information and credit card numbers to pay for his own unrelated business and personal expenses, including a payment of nearly three thousand dollars for fees owed by the defendant to a New Rochelle yacht club, a purchase of over one thousand dollars in precious metal coins by the defendant, and multiple other purchases totaling thousands of dollars from local retail stores and through the defendant’s own PayPal account.

In total, and in about just two months, between December and January of 2015, the defendant stole over $79,000 through the use of his victims’ stolen identities and credit card information.

The defendant pled not guilty and was remanded by the New Rochelle City Court.

He is also currently charged with Grand Larceny in the Third Degree in Rockland County after being accused of failing to complete a kitchen-remodeling job.

He faces up to seven years in state prison for each offense charged.

His next court date is June 15, 2017.

Anyone considering hiring a home contractor should check with the Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection and the Better Business Bureau. If a consumer believes they have been defrauded by a contractor they can file a complaint with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Brian Fitzgerald of the Public Integrity Bureau.

In compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.6, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.