NJ Window Installer Charged with 8 Counts of Fraud; More Charges Possible
By Mike DeNardo
WEST BERLIN, N.J. (CBS) -- A South Jersey window contractor is charged with defrauding customers and employees out of thousands of dollars.
Camden County authorities are accusing the owner of Dream House Windows, in Berlin Township, of passing bad checks and keeping deposits from customers without doing the work.
Firas Emachah, 40, of Shamong, NJ, faces eight counts of passing bad checks and theft by deception, and Berlin Township police chief Leonard Check says it's believed that Emachah solicited more business that he failed to deliver on, even after he was charged.
"Our concern is that there may be other victims out there that either this happened to, or he received deposits to do work on people's homes and never did any work on people's homes and refused to give them their deposits back," Check says.
He says Emachah may have been doing business under the names Zaza Corporation or Affinity Windows. (A spokesman for Philadelphia-based Affinity, a manufacturer, says they, too, were victimized by Dream House and are now trying to recover money owed to them.) According to investigators, the fraud totals more than $100,000 since January.
Anyone who believes he or she may be a victim of this contractor is asked to contact Detective Grace Clodfelter of the Camden County prosecutor's office at 856-225-8479.
(ED.: This story was updated on 7/9/2014 to clarify the relationship between Dream House Windows and Affinity Windows.)
