East Rockaway man arrested again, charged with grand larceny

An East Rockaway man was arrested for the second time in less than six weeks for stealing nearly $200,000 from clients who hired the unlicensed contractor to repair their driveways.

Robert Cohan, 26, was arrested on July 9 and charged with second-degree grand larceny and operating a home improvement business without a license. Previously, he was arrested on May 31 and charged with grand larceny after police said that he conned 89-year-old male twins out of $200,0000 for what he said were “processing, transaction, and restocking fees” for repair work that was never done on their driveway.

According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice Cohan, Cohan approached a 73-year-old woman living on Brower Avenue in Woodmere in July 2012, informed her that he owned a driveway company, and offered to repair her damaged driveway for $78,600. He said he would need the cash up front, but that he would be able to get the victim a rebate from New York State for $88,600, netting her a brand new driveway and a $10,000 profit.

The victim agreed, and also agreed to pay Cohan $1,500 to paint her deck and repair cracks in her home’s foundation. Cohan promised to pay her the rebate funds by September 7, 2012. There was no written contract, only a handwritten receipt from Cohan that the victim would receive the rebate. Between July and September 2012, the victim gave Cohan 43 checks totaling $67,490 and $10,400 in cash.

Cohan did paint the victim’s deck and repair some of the cracks in the home’s foundation, but no work was ever performed on the driveway. When the victim complained that no work had been done and that she had not received the promised rebate, Cohan made repeated excuses as to why he had not been able to pay her the money.

The victim eventually enlisted the assistance of her son, an attorney, to get the money from Cohan. Throughout January and February 2013, Cohan repeatedly promised to repay the money on numerous occasions, yet failed to do so every time. The victim filed a complaint with the Rice’s office shortly thereafter.