The following information was provided by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office:
Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi and Acting Moorestown Police Director Lt. Lee R. Lieber announced Aug. 17 that a Moorestown-based builder of custom homes was charged with theft for failing to share profits with an investor who helped finance a residential construction project in Moorestown.
A 46-year-old male of Auburn Court in Mount Laurel, was charged with one count of theft by failure to make required disposition (Second Degree). He was taken into custody Aug. 15 at his residence and placed in the Burlington County Jail on $100,000 bail with 10 percent admissible.
According to the investigation, he offered an acquaintance the opportunity to invest in a residential construction project on Borton Landing Road in Moorestown. The investor was familiar with him because the suspect had built his home in 2008. He provided the suspect with a total of $192,867 for the investment project. According to the agreement signed by both sides, the investor and the suspect were to equally split the profit once the house sold and all construction and other costs were deducted from the total.
The investigation revealed that the suspect constructed a home on the lot, and closing on the property was held in May 2013. He was present and indicated in a notarized and signed statement that no liens or encumbrances existed on the property. The title agency that conducted the closing failed to find the memorandum of understanding between the suspect and the investor, which had been filed with the Burlington County Clerk’s Office in March 2009.
The investor had not been monitoring the property and was unaware that a house had been built until he drove by in the spring of 2014. After several unsuccessful attempts to receive payment from the suspect, the investor approached law enforcement and the investigation began.
The suspect did business as Massimo Procaccini Home Builders with an address on East Main Street in Moorestown. The case was investigated by detectives from the Moorestown Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit.