Two years in prison for contractor in larceny
Sep. 30—SALEM — A North Shore contractor who specialized in window treatments like drapes, blinds and shutters was sentenced to two years in state prison Thursday, after pleading guilty to a string of larceny charges.
Ronald Silverstein, 51, of Rowley admitted to defrauding 11 victims in three counties, taking a total of $37,500 for work he never performed.
And it's not the first time he's been accused of theft — his past record of larceny convictions has now branded him a "common and notorious thief," a conviction that, a judge warned, could send him back to state prison for up to 20 years if he's found violating conditions of probation after his release.
"This is not just what he does, this is who he is," said prosecutor Lindsay Nasson, who had requested six to nine years in prison for Silverstein.
Nasson told Judge Thomas Drechsler that she has no confidence he won't return to stealing after his release, citing the number of new thefts Silverstein was committing while out on bail in the case.
"The community needs a break from him," said Nasson.
His own attorney, Scott Gleason, called the thefts — including one involving an elderly Lynn woman — "reprehensible," but suggested that others who have stolen more money have received shorter prison terms.
Silverstein was running a business called "Just Imagine Design" on Winter Street in Newburyport when he was hired by a Wellesley woman in 2014 to work on her second home in Newport, Rhode Island.
Neither she nor the other victims were aware that Silverstein had prior larceny charges on his record, including an 11-count larceny case in Peabody in 2009, another larceny charge in Newburyport in 2010, and a felony larceny conviction in Boston in 2014.
She paid him $4,312 toward the project cost and then didn't see or hear from him again until she took him to small claims court — where he ignored a civil judgment she'd obtained.
Another woman purchased a home in Middleton and hired Silverstein in 2017 to repair and clean the home's shutters. After paying a $1,000 deposit and letting him take the damaged shutters from her home, he made excuses for months before returning the old shutters and doing no further work.
One of the biggest losses was to a customer who paid $17,524 for custom shutters in 2017. Silverstein said they would be built in Texas, then offered a series of excuses, then a bogus email purporting to be from the company blaming weather, said the prosecutor.
A Dedham man paid him $2,000 for window treatments. A Newburyport woman ordered shades, and was strung along by Silverstein, who eventually promised a refund of $583 — when his non-existent accountant could cut her a check.
His own neighbor in Rowley hired Silverstein to install drapes for $3,200.
Even after he was charged in those cases, Nasson said, Silverstein kept taking money from new victims, including a Reading woman who paid for shutters and blinds for 13 windows. He did two, incorrectly, then disappeared.
He reached out to a Saugus woman with whom he'd gone to camp with years earlier, via Facebook, offering to do the windows in her newly-purchased home. After she paid him $310, he began making excuses. She decided to do some research and saw news stories about his pending indictments.
Another Saugus woman paid him $780, only to have him miss four appointments. He told her he was stuck on another job, then that his father was in the hospital — with a photo of an unknown man lying in a hospital bed — then that his father had fallen and finally, that his non-existent subcontractor had crashed on the way to her house — that also included a random photo of a crashed car, Nasson said.
An elderly widow from Lynn paid him $3,346 to work on her home. He eventually gave her a partial refund. But a Gloucester man who hired him to install shades and curtains wasn't as fortunate; after paying Silverstein he never saw him again.
After he closed his Newburyport business he began telling customers he had an office in Beverly's Cummings Center, using a suite number that did not exist, Nasson told the judge.
"He really didn't care," said the prosecutor. "Until recently he was using his own name."
Silverstein "made people feel comfortable," said Nasson. "He took advantage of them."
Drechsler said he agrees with both Nasson and Gleason that the thefts were "reprehensible," but said he felt constrained to impose a sentence that was more consistent with those handed out in other non-violent financial crimes. He referred indirectly to a sentence imposed earlier this week by another Salem Superior Court judge involving the theft of $535,000 from a Lawrence nursing home by a manager who was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in state prison.
Silverstein appeared in court wearing a purple kippah, a head covering worn outside temple by devout Jewish men.
He told the judge he has three children and that he is currently in the process of a divorce.
Drechsler ordered Silverstein not to engage in any sort of contracting, construction or home improvement work while on probation, which will last for three years after his release. With credit for the time he's spent in custody, after his bail was revoked in the case, Silverstein will be eligible for release in about 10 months.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
