Ocean County Contractor, Girlfriend Bilked Sandy Victims For Nearly $1M: Attorney General

TOMS RIVER, NJ — An Ocean County couple and their home improvement companies have been accused of defrauding dozens of homeowners, including 26 who lost nearly $1 million in federal relief funds they paid to have their homes repaired or rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy, according to the state Attorney General's office.

Jeffrey Colmyer and Tiffany A. Cimino of Little Egg Harbor Township, and their companies, Rayne Construction Management Services, also known as RCMS, and Colmyer and Sons Construction, took initial payments from consumers and then failed to begin work, performed work in a substandard manner, and/or abandoned unfinished projects without returning for weeks, months or at all, according to the 48-page complaint filed by the attorney general's office in Ocean County Superior Court.

“Instead of working to get Sandy victims back into their homes, these swindlers allegedly walked away with the money, leaving homeowners with little or nothing to show for it,” Porrino said. “This was especially devastating to residents who paid the defendants with government grant money only to see their home rebuilding projects sit idle for months and months on end.”

The two had been initially arrested last September and charged in connection with a Long Beach Township home where they are accused of taking a $40,000 deposit and failing to do any work, according to a Patch article.

The attorney general's complaint is a civil action, accusing the two of violations of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and the state Contractors Registration Act, as well as state regulations regarding home elevation contractors, home improvement contractors, and advertising related to both, according to the complaint.

The 26 homeowners named in the complaint all received federal grants from the Department of Community Affairs’ Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation and Mitigation (RREM) Program, Porrino's office said in the news release. Ten additional homeowners, who are not named, also filed complaints against the defendants in connection with home improvement work they hired the defendants to perform.

On its website, RCMS claimed it was a “family owned" business, run by “experts at house raising” and a “company you can trust” for home building through its “sister company” Colmyer and Sons, Porrino's office said in a news release.

On a video that appeared on the Colmyer and Sons website, Colmyer assured prospective customers the company was “specifically geared” to handle Superstorm Sandy projects, according to the complaint. “For the next 18 months, everything we do will be based on getting people back into their homes as quick (sic) possible,” Colmyer said, according to the attorney general's office. The Colmyer and Sons website was not accessible when checked by the Patch Monday afternoon.

The attorney general's office said, "In reality, the defendants failed to provide consumers with the contracted work they paid for."

The attorney general's office, in the complaint, accuses Colmyer, Cimino and their companies of violating the Consumer Fraud Act, the Contractors’ Registration Act, the Home Elevation Regulations, the Home Improvement Regulations and the Advertising Regulations by:

• Providing consumers with a date and/or time for particular work or projects to be completed, then failing to complete the work.

• Abandoning jobs and leaving homes uninhabitable, including raising a home and leaving it up on pilings, without any access to the home or completing further work; leaving a home exposed to the elements for months, thereby causing extensive damage; leaving a home without water service, sewer service, a roof, windows, siding, any insulation, plumbing, HVAC, interior walls, a kitchen or bathroom.

• Performing construction services in a substandard manner, including incorrectly installing waste lines; installing unsafe electrical wiring; incorrectly suspending floor joists; cutting laminated beams too short; leaving rotted plywood sheathing on a house and covering it with new siding; and installing a new roof that leaked; and then failing to make the necessary corrective repairs.

• Performing construction services that repeatedly failed inspections.

• Failing to maintain general liability insurance.

• Taking money from consumers and then, through statements made by Jeffrey Colmyer, telling them that he “did nothing with the money,” that he was “out of money,” that the money was “gone,” that he was “tapped,” and that he had spent the money on “other jobs.”

• Asking consumers for additional monies for materials and payroll and threatening to walk off the job if the monies were not provided.

• Having consumers pay out-of-pocket for work that was included in contracts and/or already paid for.

• Taking money from consumers and doing little work.

• Refusing to issue refunds when requested by consumers after failing to perform contracted-for work.

The complaint seeks consumer restitution, the disgorgement of RREM funds to the Department of Community Affairs, reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, and civil penalties. The state also seeks to permanently revoke the Home Improvement Contractor, the Home Elevation Contractor and New Home Builders registrations issued to the defendants and permanently enjoin the defendants from owning or operating a home improvement business in New Jersey.

This is the second complaint the Division of Consumer Affairs has filed against contractors who allegedly defrauded RREM recipients, Porrino's office said.

“We will continue to bring legal action against contractors who swindled consumers out of the grant money they desperately needed to rebuild their homes and move on with their lives after Superstorm Sandy,” said Steve Lee, director of the Division of Consumer Affairs. “We will not allow unscrupulous contractors to get away with re-victimizing homeowners as they struggled to get back on their feet.”

Consumers who believe they have been cheated or scammed by a business, or suspect any other form of consumer abuse, can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website, or they can call 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504-6200.

Jeffrey Colmyer and Tiffany Cimino photos, from Patch files