A window company owner, Firas Emachah from Berlin, has been charged with four counts of passing bad checks and three counts of theft by deception.
The charges stem from accusations that Emachah allegedly cheated his employees, customers, suppliers, and the government for over $30,000 by issuing bad checks. He also allegedly garnished wages from an employee as part of his probation but kept the money for himself instead of giving it to the appropriate office. There were also several other complaints claiming that Emachah took money for jobs that he never ended up doing but the investigation is still ongoing for these claims. The prosecutors office has asked that anyone else who thinks they might have been cheated by the company should contact their office.
Theft by deception grading and penalties are based on the amount of money involved. In this case, Emachah could be charged with the crime in the third degree which carries a penalty of 3 to 5 years in New Jersey State Prison if convicted. Further, the check fraud charges in this case could also be third degree which also carry a penalty of 3 to 5 years in NJ State Prison.
For more information on this case, access the nj.com article entitled “Berlin Township window business owner cheated employees, suppliers, authorities say.”
