Mineola, NY — Angelo Stanco, 59, of Glen Head, and his company, American Paving & Masonry Corp. of Glen Cove, were sentenced today for wage theft involving public work projects in Brookville and Sands Point. The Nassau County District Attorney’s office announced that Stanco and his company failed to pay prevailing wages and coerced employees into returning restitution checks they received from the State Department of Labor (DOL).
Between December 13, 2018, and January 3, 2019, Stanco demanded that several employees return DOL restitution checks as a condition of continued employment. These checks were meant to compensate for underpaid prevailing wages on public projects. Many of the checks were allegedly fraudulently endorsed or double-endorsed with Stanco’s name and deposited into accounts he controlled. Seven employees were affected, with kickbacks totaling $42,595.57.
Additional wage theft between 2019 and 2022 occurred on various Nassau County public work jobs, including those for the Glen Cove School District and multiple villages. This resulted in further restitution of $128,682.45.
Stanco was convicted of Petit Larceny and sentenced to a one-year Conditional Discharge. American Paving & Masonry Corp. was convicted of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and sentenced to a three-year Conditional Discharge, with an order to pay $171,278.02 in restitution to 18 former employees.
Both Stanco and his company are barred from performing New York public work contracts until May 23, 2029.
“This defendant not only failed to pay his employees their fair and rightly owed prevailing wage but further victimized and bullied workers by shaking them down for checks they received as compensation from the State and threatening their future employment if they did not hand the checks over,” said District Attorney Anne Donnelly in a statement. “Today, Angelo Stanco and American Paving finally made these workers whole with a restitution payment of more than $170,000.”
New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon emphasized the state’s commitment to protecting workers’ rights and ensuring fair compensation, noting that the restitution serves as an important step in addressing the harm done.
