Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe today announced the arrests of Deze Lecei (DOB 06/13/60) and Bronka Manaco (DOB 06/22/61) of 7 Hemlock Drive Monticello, New York in a home improvement swindle of a Tappan couple.

Lecei and Manaco are charged with:

· One count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a class “D” Felony

Lecei and Manaco were the owners of “Kitchen Connection,” a now-defunct contracting firm which had been located in Middletown. They are alleged to have stolen $9,000 from the Orangetown homeowners with whom they had contracted to perform approximately $17,000 worth of kitchen renovations.

The arrests resulted from an investigation conducted by detectives of the Special Investigations Unit of the Office of the District Attorney and the Orangetown Police.

The victims contracted with Lecei and Manaco for improvements in August, 2008 and made a payment of $9,000 toward the total cost of $17,200. When the kitchen makeover did not start on time, they contacted the defendants and received several excuses.

In November, 2008, Lecei and Manaco told the homeowners they were behind schedule due to family illness. In January, 2009, the victims were promised that work would begin in February. Losing patience, the principal homeowner traveled to “Kitchen Connection,” only to find the defendants in the process of shutting down their business.

At that time, Lecei and Manaco promised to return the victim his money.

None of the work for which the victims had contracted and paid was ever started and none of the $9,000 down payment was returned.

Lecei and Manaco are accused of Grand Larceny by violating the New York State Lien Law, which mandates that upon acceptance of funds in connection with a contract for improvement of real property or home improvement, those funds become a trust, which can be used only to pay for costs incurred in the performance of that homeowner’s project. The use of that money for any other purpose is a larceny under both the Lien Law and Penal Law.

The Honorable Richard Ramsey arraigned both defendants today in the Town of Orangetown Justice Court. They pled not guilty and were released on their own recognizance. They are due back in court on January 5, 2010.

Lecei and Manaco face possible state prison sentences of two and one-third to seven years in state prison.

Both the District Attorney and the Rockland County Department of Consumer Protection encourage homeowners who believe that they have been similarly victimized by Lecei and Manaco to come forward.