A Landrum man was ordered to pay $82,450 in restitution to Polk County customers he defrauded.
Terry Allen Sheehan, 31, pled guilty last week in Polk County Criminal Superior Court to five counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and failure to perform work after being paid.
Sheehan was sentenced after being arrested in Polk County for contracting out home remodel jobs, taking payments from the customers for those jobs and either not returning or not finishing the jobs after being paid.
According to District Attorney Jeff Hunts Office, Superior Court Judge Mark Powell, following N.C. sentencing guidelines, sentenced Sheehan to no less than 50 months nor more than 60 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections.
The sentence was suspended for five years, and Sheehan was ordered to pay restitution subject to a schedule established by the Probation Office, to four individual residents of Polk County.
After a lengthy and thorough hearing Judge Powell set the restitution at a total of $82,450. which sum had been illegally obtained through the Defendants Criminal Fraud, according to the DAs office.
Det. Tracey Aldridge with the Polk County Sheriffs Office said Sheehan would give customers estimates on a remodel job, then take several thousand dollars to purchase materials and would either not return after taking the payment or would return and do some work and then leave before the job was completed. Aldridge said the crimes go back as far as 2007.
Previously Sheehan had pleaded guilty in Henderson County Criminal Superior Court to multiple counts of Obtaining Property by False Pretenses and was ordered to pay restitution in the approximate sum of $43,000 to Henderson County victims.
These Polk County cases give closure to multiple criminal frauds which victimized more than a dozen of his customers in Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties, and which spanned several years.
“These Frauds were committed through Mr. Sheehans operation of a construction proprietorship in the three counties of Prosecutorial District 29B,” District Attorney Jeff Hunt said. “The multiple customers were victims of his Criminal Fraud. White collar crimes are very labor intensive to prosecute; however we prioritize them when we feel we can successfully make a case against the perpetrator,” Hunt said.
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