Contractor Stole $1.4M From Sandy Victims, Gets 7 Years In Prison

TRENTON, NJ — An Ocean County couple who stole more than $1.4 million from more than 20 victims of Superstorm Sandy was sentenced Friday, with the husband receiving a prison sentence.

Jefffrey Colmyer, 43, was sentenced to seven years in state prison, while his wife, Tiffany Cimino, 35, received a sentence of five years' probation, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said.

The Little Egg Harbor couple pleaded guilty in May to the thefts. The victims paid the couple’s home improvement contracting companies to repair or rebuild their homes, primarily using Sandy relief funds. However, the couple diverted much of the money to gamble and buy luxury items, leaving homes in disrepair.

Among the luxury items they purchased was a $17,000 diamond ring, prosecutors revealed at the couple's guilty pleas. Colmyer also gambled extensively with the money, prosecutors said.

Colmyer was sentenced to seven years in state prison by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in Ocean County. Cimino was sentenced to five years of probation. Colymer and Cimino pleaded guilty to charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of property received. Colmyer also entered guilty pleas on that date to second-degree money laundering on behalf the couple’s companies, Rayne Construction Management Services, LLC (RCMS) and Colmyer & Sons, LLC.

Among the victims was Robert Steimle of Brick, whose home was left partially lifted when Colmyer abandoned the job. Steimle spraypainted a message to Gov. Chris Christie on his home, saying "Ask Me About RREM," when he got trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare after Colmyer left him high and dry and sleeping in a camper for two years. (READ MORE: In Ocean County Man's Sandy Rebuilding Nightmare, Builder Lends A Helping Hand)

When the couple pleaded guilty, Steimle said the arrest and subsquent indictment of the couple helped finally clear the way for his home reconstruction to go forward. The work was finally completed in April 2017, he said.

"He put me through hell," Steimle said at the time. "He just destroyed me."

The Attorney General’s Office, through the Division of Consumer Affairs and Division of Law, previously obtained a consent order in a lawsuit against the couple and their companies, under which the defendants must pay $695,402 in restitution to victims and $655,243 to the State of New Jersey as restitution for stolen Sandy relief funds. At sentencing, Ryan ordered additional sums of restitution to the victims, bringing total restitution to more than $1.4 million. Colmyer also must pay $56,472 to the state of New Jersey for back taxes he failed to pay, and Cimino must pay $56,332 in back taxes.

"Colmyer and Cimino callously stole from Sandy victims whose homes were destroyed, compounding the hardships and distress their victims faced as they strived to rebuild after this historic storm," Grewal said. "By absconding with disaster relief funds and personal savings that these victims desperately needed, these defendants proved themselves to be heartless con artists."

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.

"We have prosecuted many cases of fraud and theft related to Superstorm Sandy, but this is perhaps the most egregious, given the amount stolen by this couple and the fact that they enriched themselves at the expense of victims who were hit hardest by this natural disaster," said Veronica Allende, director of the Division of Criminal Justice.

"The fact that this is one of our largest Hurricane Sandy related case involving a contractor to date, in terms of the number of victims and the amount of restitution, speaks directly to the size and scope of this criminal enterprise," said Nicholas Padilla, Assistant Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. "We commend the NJ DCJ, and our other partners in this case, for their efforts in seeking justice and prosecuting these individuals who have victimized homeowners who already lost everything as a result of Hurricane Sandy. "

Colmyer and Cimino diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars their victims paid to have their homes repaired, elevated and rebuilt. The couple used the funds to pay personal expenses, including jewelry purchases by Cimino, a $17,000 diamond ring, and hundreds of thousands of dollars that Colmyer gambled at seven casinos in Atlantic City.

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.

The case was investigated by Detective Michael Arduini, Investigator Jordan Thompson, Deputy Attorney General Nicodemo and former Analyst Alison Callery of the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of Lt. David Nolan, Deputy Bureau Chief Mark Kurzawa and former Bureau Chief Michael A. Monahan. They worked with Special Agents from the HUD Office of Inspector General. Deputy Attorney General Derek Miller and Civil Investigator Debra Maiorano handled the state’s forfeiture action.

Deputy Attorneys General John A. Nicodemo and William N. Conlow prosecuted the defendants and handled the sentencing hearings for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau.

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Jeffrey Colmyer and Tiffany Cimino photos provided by the state Attorney General's office