TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that an Eatontown man was sentenced
to prison today for stealing $1 million
from K. Hovnanian while employed as an in-house
attorney for the company.
According
to Director Paw, Scott R. Baron, 50, of
Eatontown, was sentenced to seven years
in state prison by Superior Court Judge
Bette E. Uhrmacher in Monmouth County. Baron
was sentenced for the K. Hovnanian theft,
as well as two other thefts that occurred
after he was laid off by K. Hovanian. In
each case, Baron gambled away the stolen
funds. Baron was required to enter a consent
judgment to pay a total of $1,377,621 in
restitution to the victims. He previously
was required to permanently give up his
right to practice law in New Jersey.
For
the K. Hovnanian theft, Baron pleaded guilty
on Jan. 25, 2008 to an accusation charging
him with second-degree theft by failure
to make required disposition of property
received. He admitted that between April
5, 2005 and March 23, 2007, he stole $1
million in funds that he received as in-house
counsel for K. Hovnanian. Baron was responsible
for canceling contracts the company had
entered for certain real estate purchases
and recovering deposits made by the company
with numerous escrow agents and other entities.
Baron admitted that he received checks totaling
$1 million and deposited them in his own
account, without telling his employer of
the refunds.
On
April 1, 2008, he admitted the other thefts,
pleading guilty to an accusation charging
him with theft by failure to make required
disposition of property received and theft
by deception, both in the second degree.
In connection with the first of those charges,
Baron admitted that in October 2007, he
stole $190,259 in funds related to two real
estate transactions. In each transaction,
Baron was settlement agent for the purchaser
and failed to disburse funds that were wired
to his account for payment of various taxes
and fees. In connection with the theft by
deception charge, Baron admitted that he
refinanced his home in October 2007 without
telling his wife, even though title to the
home was in her name. He deceived the lender
by presenting documents that he fraudulently
claimed were signed by his wife. Baron received
$145,584 from the loan. In both cases, Baron
used the stolen funds to support his gambling
addiction.
Lt.
James MacInnes investigated the case for
the Division of Criminal Justice –
Major Crimes Bureau. Supervising Deputy
Attorney General Terrence Hull prosecuted
the case.
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