William Neumann, the Fair Haven wicker-furniture dealer who was arrested in March for defrauding 83 customers out of $290,000, has been indicted, the Asbury Park Press reports.
The indictment, handed up by a Monmouth County grand jury on Monday, reduced the number of alleged victims to 81.
Neumann, 61, who lives in the Leonardo section of Middletown, owns Cabbage Rose LLC, a furniture store in Fair Haven, and Chelsea Manor Unlimited, a company that sells furniture over the Internet, according to a news release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
From the story:
After authorities received numerous complaints, they launched an investigation and determined Neumann received more than $350,000 in payments from customers between January 2004 and January 2007, but failed to deliver merchandise or issue refunds to them, according to the news release.
He told customers he was an authorized dealer for several furniture distributors, but he was not, authorities said.
Neumann also failed to file state income tax returns from 2003 until 2006, and failed to file and pay sales tax for the years 2001 to 2006, the news release said.
He is free on $150,000 bail.
