Senior Judge Hopes To Send Message With Sentencing Of Crooked Contractor

A Middletown contractor who authorities say bilked numerous homeowners was sentenced to state prison Monday.

John Michael New, 42, was sentenced by Bucks County Senior Judge Clyde W. Waite to eight consecutive one- to two-year state prison sentences, one for each project New is accused of not finishing. He is also required to pay back $163,291.92 in restitution, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

“This should send any message that needs to be sent as to what will be tolerated,” Waite said.

New, who was an unlicensed contractor, did not properly complete work he took money for in three counties, including Bucks County. The scope of the “home-improvement crime wave” left eight homes and 11 victims with unfinished kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, patios and tens of thousands of dollars in lost deposits, the district attorney’s office said. They added that the majority of New’s victims were older.

According to authorities, New often took from customers after a contract was signed. He collected deposits and failed to completed the work he promised. In many cases, victims were forced to hire new contractors and pay for it out of their own pockets.

“John New has stolen $17,000 from my family, destroyed our back yard, ruined our trust in people, and put us in (a) bad financial position that will impact my family for years into the future,” a victim, who hired New to put in a new patio and deck, wrote in a letter to the court.

An elderly couple wrote to the judge that they hired New to renovate their bathroom and add a walk-in tub for their adult daughter with cerebral palsy. Once New began the work, he left the family stranded with a shower that did not work. The project ended up costing the elderly couple nearly $20,000 on a budget of $9,000.

“That someone would take advantage of a project that was essentially going to make life better for a disabled woman and her caregiver parents still leaves our nerves frayed and stomachs cold,” the couple wrote to the judge.

“The damage to these victims was in many ways irreparable,” Deputy District Attorney Marc Furber said.

According to the district attorney’s office, New has not yet put any money forward to pay back his victims.

New told the judge he just wants to “make this right by everyone” and asked for a sentence of probation so he could work to earn money for restitution.

In June, New pleaded guilty to eight felony counts of receiving advance payment for services and failing to perform them. He also pleaded guilty to one count each of theft by deception and defrauding his insurance provider by obtaining coverage with false information.

Bucks County judges have sentenced two other contractors to prison for similar home improvement scams.

In 2015, Levittown residents John and Ryan Thayer, a father-son contracting team behind Hammertime Construction and Demolition, were sentenced to state prison for bilking several customers of roughly $675,000. “I put myself first and not these other people,” Ryan Thayer said last year, adding “a lot of this money went in my pocket.”

Yardley contractor John Succi was sentenced in 2015 to an almost unheard of 15 to 30 years in state prison for taking $2.5 million from dozens of victims.

“Generally, contractors must know that this is wrong,” Furber said.