Family of Greenport Victim Addresses Court During Trial of Scott Meyer

An accountant with a Huntington accounting firm who stole money from several clients, including an 80-year-old deceased Greenport resident, was sentenced to four to 13 years in prison in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

The family of the victim, the late John C. Murphy Jr., who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, addressed the court in a letter written by his sister, Frances Dunphy Livernois.

In the letter, Livernois wrote that it was heartbreaking that her brother “while his cognitive, physical and functional abilities steadily diminished…was taken advantage of at a time when he was most vulnerable,” according to the DA.

Murphy was the owner of W.T. Hickey Corp. Electrical Contractors for over 60 years.

As his accountant, Scott Meyer, 48, of Seaford, stole $159,858 from the businessman who died in April of 2014, according to the DA.

In her letter, Livernois said Meyer’s “betrayal and deception” are “beyond comprehension,” according to the DA.

The court ordered that restitution be paid by Meyer as a part of his sentence, according to the DA.

“Meyer’s greed fed his appetite for a lavish lifestyle that included approximately $140,000 he spent on vacations in Aruba, Disney World and the Bahamas from 2008 to 2013,” Spota said. “By carefully choosing his victims to prey on their vulnerabilities, he used his skill as an accountant to steal over $800 thousand dollars and he kept the thefts undetected for over five years.”

Meyer also stole over $240,00 from a disabled man living in a California assisted living facility and $427,000 from the Huntington Rural Cemetery Association, according to the DA.