MONTAUK BUSINESSMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO GRAND LARCENY

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Mark Ripolone, 35, formerly of Montauk, pleaded guilty to five counts of Grand Larceny after stealing nearly $400,000 over a three-year period in a scheme to siphon monies from legitimate businesses.  

“This defendant was a thief operating under the guise of an entrepreneur. Instead of conducting business with integrity and honesty, he stole money from his own customers to line his pockets,” said District Attorney Tierney.  “Because of his greed, this defendant must now reimburse his victims, or go to prison.”

Ripolone was the owner of a now defunct food delivery service called “123 Delivery,” as well as a beach service company named “Hampton Management Group, Inc.,” that specialized in providing luxury beach chair set ups and decorations for special events.  These businesses were located in Montauk and primarily did business during the busy summer months on the East End of Long Island.   

According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, between September 2018 and October 2021, Ripolone stole approximately $225,000 from several customers of “123 Delivery” after obtaining the bank account information and routing numbers of their accounts under the guise of conducting legitimate business affairs. Ripolone then used his customers’ specific account information to make ACH withdrawals from their accounts that paid for his personal expenses, including credit card debts, a home mortgage payment, and Verizon phone bills.

In another fraudulent scheme, between April and May 2020, Ripolone stole $160,000 from a payroll company with whom he had contracted to do payroll. He stole this money by having the payroll money transferred to his personal bank account when he did not have any funds available to reimburse the payroll company.

On October 24, 2023, Ripolone pleaded guilty before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable John B. Collins to the following charges:

• Three counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Class C felonies; and
• Two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, Class D felonies;

Ripolone is expected to be sentenced to 840 hours of community service as an alternative to six months in jail, followed by five years of probation.  As required by the conditions of his plea agreement, Ripolone must pay $143,379 in restitution to the victims by the sentencing date.    If he fails to pay this restitution by the sentencing date, he is expected to be sentenced to two to six years of incarceration.   Ripolone’s next court date is December 19, 2023. He is represented by Jeremy Scileppi, Esq.         

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Donna Planty of the Financial Crimes Bureau with investigative assistance from Detective Ryan Hogan from the East Hampton Town Police Department, Lt. Robert Drake from the Sag Harbor Village Police Department, and Investigator Michael Ferris from the New York State Police.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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