Jury convicts Naples, NY contractor Joel Smith and Naples Contracting Inc. of stealing $50,000+ from a deposit

What happened

FingerLakes1 reported on 17 October 2026 that a Schuyler County, New York jury found Naples contractor Joel Smith, 67, and his company Naples Contracting Inc., also known as Diversified Contracting Co., guilty of second-degree grand larceny, a Class C felony, and first-degree falsifying business records, a Class E felony, according to the Schuyler County District Attorney's Office.

The jury found that Smith and the corporation entered into a home improvement contract with a customer and accepted a $90,000 deposit, and that Smith misappropriated more than $50,000 of that money for his own purposes. The jury also found that he created false business records and gave them to the customer to justify the taking and conceal the theft. District Attorney Jeremy Hourihan prosecuted the case during a four-day trial that ended with the 16 October verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for 17 December.

How the scam works

The case shows a pattern consumer agencies warn about in home improvement: a large upfront deposit that is not used for the job. Here, prosecutors said, the money was diverted to the contractor's own purposes, and paperwork was then produced to make the spending look legitimate. Paperwork that looks official is not proof that money was spent on materials or labour for your project.

The larger the deposit, the more a customer has at stake if work stalls. Paying in stages tied to completed work, and asking for receipts from suppliers rather than the contractor's own summaries, makes it harder for a deposit to disappear.

Note: the source reports only the facts of the case; the prevention points in this report are general guidance.

Source

FingerLakes1.com, "Naples contractor and company convicted of stealing over $50,000 from customer" (17 October 2026), citing the Schuyler County District Attorney’s Office.