Dec 23, 2007 10:38 am US/Eastern
Con Ed Subcontractor Allegedly Stole From Homes
Staten Island Homeowner Finds Valuable Jewelry Missing After Subcontractor Visit
STATEN ISLAND (CBS) ―
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A subcontractor hired by Con Edison has allegedly been stealing from the Staten Island homes he was working in.
CBS
A Con Edison subcontractor hired to help homeowners save money on their electricity bills is being accused of robbing them instead. He's allegedly hit homes in two Staten Island neighborhoods.
"They're terrific, they're really good," said George Burke as he described the new energy efficient light bulbs Con Edison offered for free, but Burke says he ended up paying for them with valuable jewelry.
Last month, two subcontractors came to Burke's house to install the energy efficient light bulbs. While Burke filled out paperwork with one of them, the other went around the house changing light bulbs.
After having the new bulbs installed, Burke noticed a ten-karat diamond ring and a one-karat ruby garnet worth about $20,000 were gone.
"This right here is the dish where they were in," pointed Burke. "So you can see how close the lamp was to the dish."
That's when he realized one of the subcontractors hired by Con Edison was the culprit.
A detective investigating the subcontractor recently contacted Burke.
According to the detective, Burke wasn't the only victim. Several complaints, all of them from Staten Island had come in, and all of the victims had recently gotten their light bulbs replaced with one of the new energy saving kind.
In each case, Hazem Soliman, 19, was the worker sent out by Free Lighting Corp – Staten Island. CBS 2 HD found the company truck outside his Soliman's Great Kills home, but he wouldn't speak with us.
CBS 2 HD's Liz Hur told a woman at a window, she wanted to talk to him to see what happened and why he was stealing, but the lady said Soliman was not home and that he did not steal anything.
But the 19-year-old now stands accused of two counts of grand larceny and one count of petit larceny.
A spokesman with Con Edison says the company expects all contractors to provide safe and honest service. Our calls to the contract company Free Lighting Corp were not returned.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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