Scam artist in $111,000 case seeks plea deal
Prosecutor insists on felony counts
LOCKPORT — In an unusual arraignment Tuesday in Niagara County Court, the attorney for a Pendleton man accused of stealing about $111,000 in a travel voucher scam admitted his client’s guilt.
But the official plea was not guilty because the state attorney general’s office insists that Joseph D. Ehrenreich must plead guilty to a felony, and the defense wants to plead to a misdemeanor with full restitution.
Ehrenreich, 41, of Oakwood Drive, was indicted on 20 counts of grand larceny and one count of scheming to defraud.
“It involved the defendant stealing money from more than 20 people, stealing over $100,000,” Assistant Attorney General Latizia P. Tagliafierro said. “A plea to a [Class] A misdemeanor is completely unacceptable.”
Defense attorney Edward C. Cosgrove said he brought full restitution to Judge Mathew J. Murphy III’s court Tuesday, but it stayed in his pocket.
“We don’t have any factual defenses here,” said Cosgrove, a former Erie County district attorney. “The [Ehrenreich] family wants to make everybody whole and make restitution, as we’ve told the attorney general’s office before.”
“My understanding was that restitution was only available if he got an A misdemeanor plea,” Tagliafierro said.
Cosgrove said Ehrenreich’s mother and siblings have come up with the money to repay the thefts from clients of Ehrenreich’s former travel business in 2006 and 2007.
“The family feels terrible about these poor people who lost this money,” Cosgrove said. “The attorney general’s office insists upon incarceration, and to this day insists upon incarceration.”
Cosgrove said he thinks that’s inappropriate. “My client has very serious disabilities,” the lawyer said. He said Ehrenreich is schizophrenic and suffers from bipolar disorder, and has a long history of alcoholism. He has four alcohol-related driving convictions and currently is on probation in Erie County for felony driving while intoxicated.
As a prior felon, Ehrenreich would face mandatory state prison time if convicted as charged in this case.
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said, “Posing as a legitimate travel agent, this individual allegedly ripped off more than $100,000 from Buffalo-area residents and cash-strapped not-for-profits. The list of alleged victims is astonishing: from Meals on Wheels, to a hospice center, to a cancer patient celebrating the completion of treatment. My office will continue to root out these kinds of scams, shut down the perpetrators, and protect consumers across New York.”
Some of the people who lost money to Ehrenreich were in court for the arraignment. They included two cancer sufferers from Williamsville, Halyna Delore and her husband, John. They said they won a voucher for a free Alaskan cruise in a raffle at a September 2007 fundraiser for a friend with heavy medical bills.
John Delore said they wanted to take their daughter, so they met with Ehrenreich and paid him $1,250 as a down payment on her fare on Carnival Cruise Lines.
“We were supposed to get the tickets the first of April [2008]. The tickets didn’t come, so we called Carnival and they never heard of him,” John said.
“We were struggling with medical bills,” said Halyna Delore, who says she is now cancer- free. “I just can’t believe how he ripped off people with very low incomes.”
There were some victims whom Ehrenreich ripped off twice. Tagliafierro said there were incidents where a client complained about not being booked for a cruise, so Ehrenreich took the person’s credit card information and used it to book a cruise that was already supposed to have been booked.
The bogus cruise vouchers from Ehrenreich’s company, Destination Management Group, were donated to several local charities, including Niagara Hospice, the Beechwood/ Blocher Foundation, the Meals on Wheels Foundation of Western New York, and a fundraising event for Buffalo Police Officer Patricia Parete.
Tagliafierro said sentencing for the 20 grand larceny counts could be consecutive, leading to 50 years in prison if Ehrenreich is convicted on every one.
The scheming to defraud count is a catch-all charge that could be used to cover any newly reported thefts. The attorney general’s office issued a statement asking anyone else defrauded by Ehrenreich to call 853-8400 to report the matter.
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