Glen Cove resident Angelo Stanco, paving company charged with larceny, theft in alleged prevailing wage kickback scheme, Nassau DA says

A Glen Head man and his paving and masonry company have been charged with larceny and theft for allegedly demanding employees kick back payments they were entitled to receive from the state Department of Labor because the company had previously failed to pay the prevailing wage on public work projects in Brookville and Sands Point.

Angelo Stanco, 58, of Glen Head, and American Paving & Masonry Corp. of Glen Cove, pleaded not guilty before Judge Norman A. Samut to six counts of third-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree grand larceny, failure to pay the prevailing wage and six counts of second-degree forgery. Stanco was released on his own recognizance. The corporation also pleaded not guilty.

“This defendant and his company allegedly failed to abide by the law, underpaying employees their rightful wages, and then doubled down on this unlawful behavior by demanding kickbacks, threatening employees with termination if they did not comply, or stealing restitution checks outright," said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. "Some of the defendant’s employees were not aware they were due thousands of dollars in wages."

Stanco's arrest came just six days after New York State amended the penal law to add the theft of wages to the definition of the larceny statute. Therefore, any employer who does not pay the proper minimum wage, overtime rate or promised wage can be charged with a crime. 

The statute also permits prosecutors to aggregate the total amount of wages stolen from the entire workforce to determine the charge — from petit larceny for under $1,000 to a Class B Felony for wage theft in excess of $1 million.

“This law is a great tool in the battle against wage theft and labor trafficking,” Donnelly said. “This is a tremendous win for Nassau County workers who are often underpaid, or even unpaid, by unscrupulous employers. Any worker in Nassau who believes they have been a victim of wage theft is encouraged to call our complaint and wage hotline at 516-571-2149.”

Vito Palmieri, Stanco's Mineola-based attorney, said by telephone that his client maintains his innocence.

"We are fully complying with the district attorney's office to provide the background records and look forward to clearing my client’s name," Palmieri said. "He’s been in business for 40 years and has maintained employees, some employees have been with him for 25 years … He is a very good employer. I believe what they're going to find is there's one or two disgruntled people who look to cause trouble." 

According to prosecutors, Stanco executed two stipulations with the New York State Department of Labor, Public Work Bureau on July 24, 2018, acknowledging that Stanco and American underpaid prevailing wages owed to employees on public work projects in the Villages of Brookville and Sands Point and agreed to pay $102,631.

The Department of Labor issued 25 restitution checks for the underpayments and interest to 22 employees on Dec. 7, 2018, prosecutors said. Between Dec. 13, 2018, and Jan. 3, 2019, Stanco demanded several employees kick back the DOL checks as a condition of their future employment, according to prosecutors. Seven employees were impacted by the alleged scheme and the kickbacks totaled $42,595, prosecutors said. 

Prosecutors said many of the kicked-back checks were endorsed by Stanco and deposited into accounts he controlled. 

The defendants are due back in court on Oct. 11. If convicted, Stanco faces up to 2-1/3 years to 7 years in prison, as well as a five-year prohibition from bidding upon or working on public work contracts under the felony debarment provision in the New York State Labor Law. 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.