Little Egg contractors used $1.4M in Sandy money to gamble, buy diamond ring

TOMS RIVER – A Little Egg Harbor couple admitted Tuesday to stealing more than $1.4 million from more than 20 victims of superstorm Sandy who hired them to fix their homes. They used the money to gamble at seven Atlantic City casinos and buy a $17,000 diamond ring and other luxury goods, all the while abandoning jobs or never starting them, authorities said. Jeffrey Colmyer, 42, and Tiffany Cimino, 34 pleaded guilty to theft by failure to make required disposition of property before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, sitting in Toms River. Colmyer also pleaded guilty to money laundering as a principal of the couple’s home improvement contracting businesses, Rayne Construction Management Services LLC, and Colmyer & Sons LLC. That charge alone carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 7. “Colmyer and Cimino heartlessly preyed on Sandy victims whose homes had been destroyed, stealing the relief funds that were the lifeline these victims needed to rebuild in the aftermath of the historic storm,” said Attorney General Grewal in a statement. “By sending Colmyer to prison, we deliver a strong deterrent message that anyone willing to sink so low as to steal disaster relief money from victims will face a stern reckoning.”