DA: Entrepreneur Mark Ripolone pleads guilty to theft of nearly $400G from customers, vendor

A Montauk entrepreneur who owned a food delivery service and a company specializing in East End beach services pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing nearly $400,000 during a three-year period from his customers and a contracted payroll service, Suffolk prosecutors said.

Mark Ripolone, 35, formerly of Montauk, pleaded guilty in Riverhead to three counts of second-degree grand larceny and two counts of third-degree grand larceny.

State Supreme Court Judge John B. Collins is expected to sentence Ripolone on Dec. 19 to 840 hours of community service — as an alternative to six months in jail — followed by five years of probation, prosecutors said. The plea deal requires Ripolone to pay more than $143,000 in restitution to the victims before the sentencing date or face two to six years in prison, authorities said.

“This defendant was a thief operating under the guise of an entrepreneur," said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney in a news release. "Instead of conducting business with integrity and honesty, he stole money from his own customers to line his pockets. Because of his greed, this defendant must now reimburse his victims, or go to prison.”

Jeremy Scileppi, Ripolone's Commack-based attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

Ripolone was the owner of a now-defunct food delivery service known as 123 Delivery, and Hampton Management Group, Inc., a beach service company that specialized in providing luxury beach chair set ups and decorations for special events. Both businesses were located in Montauk and operated primarily during the busy summer months on Suffolk's East End.

Between September 2018 and October 2021, Ripolone stole about $225,000 from “123 Delivery” customers after obtaining their bank account information under the guise of conducting legitimate business, prosecutors said. Ripolone then withdrew funds from their accounts to pay for his personal expenses, including credit card debts, mortgage payments, and cellphone bills, authorities said.

In another scheme, between April and May 2020, Ripolone stole approximately $160,000 from a contracted payroll service by having funds transferred to his personal bank account when he did not have enough money available to reimburse the company, prosecutors said.

A Newsday story profiling Ripolone in 2016, after he had started 123 Delivery, said the company "will transport just about anything from any restaurant, store or other business in Montauk to any place in the East End hamlet, or make arrangements for tours and other activities."

A friend's connections led to an endorsement of Ripolone's delivery service by Kevin Harrington, one of the original billionaire entrepreneurs from ABC’s hit show, “Shark Tank." Harrington later appeared in a commercial for the fledging company.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.