A 54-year-old Upper Merion man has been arrested and charged with seven counts of wire fraud, fraudulent business practices and other offenses after he, allegedly, ran a business that scammed hundreds of grieving customers out of about $1.5 million.
On Tuesday, United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero announced the arrest of Gregory J. Stefan, Jr., 54, of Upper Merion, due to, what she called "fraudulent business practices he employed in the operation and management of headstone sales companies."
According to an indictment, Romero alleges that, from January of 2018 through September of 2023, Stefan defrauded nearly 500 customers though his businesses -- 1843 LLC and Colonial Memorials.
Court documents claim that Stefan targeted grieving customers, entering contracts with them to provide custom headstone and engraving services for their deceased loved ones that he knew he would not deliver on the promised timeline, if at all.
Get top local stories in Philly delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Philadelphia's News Headlines newsletter.
Also, Stefan is alleged to have demanded customers pay large upfront payments -- sometimes paying 100% of the purchase price -- and routinely failed to deliver orders by the projected delivery date.
The federal attorney's office said that when customers attempted to contact Stefan's company looking for their overdue orders, he either ignored them or used tactics to assure them orders would eventually arrive and they didn't need to take any other steps to follow up on their concerns.
Yet, the indictment said, Stefan failed to deliver on orders placed by nearly 500 customers who had paid him in excess of $1.5 million.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
If convicted, officials claim, Stefan could face a maximum sentence of 140 years in prison.
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
