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The proprietor of a Massachusetts paving enterprise is going through a protracted record of prison costs, accused of taking prospects’ cash and disappearing with out finishing the roles.
The alleged sample of theft might now land William Pusateri of Precedence 1 Paving in jail.
Pusateri was the main target of our “To Catch a Contractor” investigation final 12 months, which detailed allegations of financially steamrolling prospects all around the Boston space.
Victims included the aged, public servants, single dad and mom, and a Natick homeowner with special needs. Lots of the individuals had shared their tales with the NBC10 Boston Investigators.
In Middlesex Superior Court docket on Tuesday, Pusateri was arraigned on a 23-count indictment, together with stealing from individuals over age 60 and theft from an individual with a incapacity.
Assistant District Legal professional Mary O’Neill stated even after householders began going to their native police departments, Pusateri’s alleged conduct continued. In some circumstances, he showed up out of the blue at the properties of previous customers and secured deposits.
There are clusters of circumstances in Framingham and Dedham, with indictments additionally itemizing victims in Natick, Newton, Watertown, Braintree, Medford and Boston.
O’Neill stated the present costs allege Pusateri has stolen over $60,000 from prospects. Nonetheless, she added that prosecutors are nonetheless listening to from extra individuals, and it is attainable extra costs may very well be coming down the street.
“This was not merely a matter of civil disputes,” O’Neill stated. “This was a repeated, ongoing course of conduct the place he defrauded multitudes of individuals.”
As we previously reported, Pusateri was convicted of an analogous scheme in Worcester County a decade in the past and spent three years in jail.
The paving enterprise proprietor has been locked up in Norfolk County Correctional Middle since the first Dedham cases turned criminal in May of 2022. These circumstances will now develop into a part of the bigger prosecution being dealt with by the Middlesex County District Legal professional’s Workplace.
Pusateri is being held on $25,000 bail. If he posts the cash, a clerk Justice of the Peace set the situations of around-the-clock GPS monitoring at a relative’s dwelling in Dedham and prohibited any contracting work.
Kate Merritt-O’Toole is a Framingham home-owner who first reached out to NBC10 Boston after seeing our “To Catch a Contractor” collection. She stated it was troublesome to persuade her native police division to pursue prison costs after giving Pusateri $2,000 after which listening to a listing of excuses about why her undertaking could not be accomplished.
There’s a state fund for shoppers who’ve been ripped off by contractors. Nonetheless, not one of the alleged situations involving Pusateri would qualify as a result of pavers don’t have to be licensed or registered in Massachusetts.
“My hope is that we are able to persuade our state legislators to require licensing for paving contractors, with stiff penalties, so when Mr. Pusateri is launched but once more, the subsequent group of victims is not going to should struggle as laborious to cease and convict him,” O’Toole stated.
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