TRENTON, NJ— A man who concocted a scheme with others to secure housing-rehabilitation projects funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development plead guilty to theft of $224,250 in government funds, according to officials.
John Youngclaus, 43, of Bayonne, New Jersey, is facing up to 10 years in prison along with a $250,000 fine, officials said.
Officials said Youngclaus was the owner of JRY Plumbing and Heating, a plumbing company in Bayonne.
The City of Bayonne Department of Community Development was a government agency that received funds from the Housing and Urban Development under a federal program that provided grants up to $20,000 to low-income families to rehabilitate their homes and to repair conditions affecting health and safety, accessibility, energy efficiency or code compliance, according to authorities.
Bayonne chose contractors through a bidding process.
Here are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case, according to officials:
- Between January 2012 and December 2012, Youngclaus solicited and submitted bids from competing contractors that were higher than the bids that Youngclaus submitted to the city of Bayonne on behalf of JRY plumbing.
- On at least one occasion, Youngclaus received blank invoices from a competing contractor and Youngclaus wrote the job details and price quote on the blank invoice and submitted the fraudulent bid along with a lower bid from JRY to Bayonne’s Community Development Agency for a certain grant-funded job to be awarded the project.
- Twice, Youngclaus submitted fraudulent bids from competing c