The new Geneseo offices of Coast Professionals, being completed by Lecesse Construction. The original contractor was dropped after he skipped town. Photo by Mark Gillespie.
Danny K. Hurst played a shell game and lost. Now, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
A Livingston County jury found Friday that the 49-year-old Oklahoma contractor skimmed money from a student loan collection agency opening an office in Geneseo.
Hurst stands convicted on two counts of grand larceny in the second degree, one count of grand larceny in the third degree and three counts of falsifying business records— based on $180,000 he pocketed while working on contract with Coast Professional.
In his closing arguments, District Attorney Tom Moran repeatedly told the jury that Hurst used his contract with Coast Professional “as a perfect vehicle to steal money.”
Hurst’s criminal actions began Sept. 18, 2008 when he drew $41,805 from the Steuben Bank and Trust to pay two subcontractors that were working in Virginia, not Geneseo. Twice more, he drew money from the account — for $45,776 and $91, 533 — under what Moran established were false pretenses. For instance, Hurst claimed he needed money for grading and sewer installation that was actually done by subcontractor Gary Germeo — who was never paid by Hurst.
By January 2009, Coast Professional had paid Hurst over $236,000 with only a concrete footer to show for it, a footer that the Geneseo town building inspector Ron Maxwell insisted be redone as it didn’t meet the 12-inch thickness requirement for cold-weather foundations.
“That’s an expensive footer!” Moran told the jury.
Defense attorney Maurice Verrillo countered that Hurst was not paid by Coast Professional “in a timely fashion or in the correct amounts.” He said Hurst understood that he was to have discretion over the way the money was spent, that he acted in good faith and that he had a right to the cash owed to him.
“He had an entitlement and right to that money, so he could not have stolen it,” claimed Verrillo. “What we have here is a company that failed to pay [Mr. Hurst], that failed to hold up its side of the bargain and is now crying over the spilled milk it created.”
Verrillo credited Hurst for continuing the project in spite of the alleged cash flow issues. “He kept working on the job even though they were not paying him,” said Verrillo. “How was he supposed to make the project work? Was he supposed to wait until the end of the project to pay for labor and expenses?”
Moran challenged this point in his summation: “On his draws, he got exactly paid what he asked for. If he didn’t get paid, why did he appear to keep working?”
Throughout his presentation, Moran called into question everything Hurst said and every document he provided during the investigation — from telling subcontractors “the check’s in the mail” to promising to return calls to sheriff’s investigators.
Verrillo asked the jury to consider Hurst’s willingness to work with police on the case, and wondered why they didn’t involve him more in their investigation.
“Police never went to Mr. Hurst to hear his side because the evidence gathered here was overwhelming,” said Moran. “When you add that to what they had learned in other jurisdictions, it wasn’t necessary [to work with Mr. Hurst].”
Hurst has a prior criminal record from 1994 to 2007 that includes ten convictions, seven of them felonies. During the course of the investigation, the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office uncovered similar schemes Hurst is believed to be running in Massachussetts, Iowa and Virginia.
Hurst’s possible 20-year sentence is based on his second-felony offender status under New York state law.
Coast Professional originally hired Hurst based on a personal recommendation, and because his bid came in $100,000 less than the next lowest proposal — from the Livingston County-based Dalton Construction. The company that is finishing the project now is Lecesse Construction of Henrietta. The project is expected to eventually create over 100 new local jobs.
Hurst will return to Livingston County Court for sentencing Nov. 10.