North Wales Contractor Who Bilked Homeowner Sentenced To Prison

A home-improvement contractor from North Wales who admitted to stealing from customers as well as a local rental equipment company has been sentenced to state prison by a Bucks County judge.

Todd Michael Craig, 31, who did business as T.M.C. Mechanical, was sentenced to serve two to seven years in state prison, with a concurrent seven years of probation.

He was also ordered to pay more than $90,000 in restitution to his victims, imposing a payment plan of $500 per month as a condition of probation.

Craig, who pleaded guilty on Nov. 9 to multiple theft-related felonies, first came under police scrutiny in January 2016, when he didn't return three expensive pieces of rented equipment from Sunbelt Rentals in Upper Southampton Township. The total value of the equipment was $90,000.

Craig had rented the machinery using the name of his father’s construction business, authorities said. However, his father told investigators that Craig had not worked for him in many years and that he never authorized his son to rent anything using his company’s account.

Police eventually found the machinery concealed under tarps at a house in Buckingham Township where Craig had been working for several weeks.

"Identifying information such as vehicle identification numbers, serial numbers and stickers identifying the equipment as Sunbelt property had been removed from the equipment or painted over," according to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

In addition to the stolen rental equipment, authorities say Craig overcharged the Buckingham Township homeowner by thousands of dollars. He also stole silver and other personal items from the owner’s house, including credit cards that he used to rack up thousands of dollars in charges, authorities say.

Craig also pleaded guilty to writing two bad checks to Mike Wass Auto Center in Doylestown for nearly $1,500 in repairs to his pickup truck and his girlfriend’s car.

In court, Craig apologized to his victims, saying he got in over his head by trying to run his own business.