Woman charged with stealing insurance money from Sandy victim

A 56-year-old Pennsylvania woman has been charged with stealing $29,000 in insurance money from a New Jersey widow who hired her to repair damage to her home caused by Superstorm Sandy, the attorney general said Thursday.

Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy says Dorian Leigh Dammer, whose last known address is Easton, Pa., pretended to be a representative of a Paramus-based construction company and accepted money for repairs that were never made.

In a statement Thursday, prosecutors say that in October 2013, Dammer met with the widowed homeowner - a retired medical doctor - about making repairs to the roof of her Bridgewater home, which was damaged during Superstorm Sandy.

"An acquaintance gave the homeowner the name 'Dorian Grey,' a woman who purportedly represented Vanguard Construction company. In reality, 'Dorian Grey' was Dorian Dammer, a former employee of Vanguard Construction who had been fired a month earlier for stealing from the company," prosecutors said in a statement.

The homeowner, who had been allocated $37,128 through her insurance company for the repairs, met with Dammer, who allegedly quoted her a price of $35,422 and also claimed to be a medical doctor who was working for the construction company on the side, authorities said. Dammer cashed $28,770 in checks from the homeowner but the repairs were never done, according to prosecutors. Instead, the attorney general says, Dammer allegedly blamed inclement weather and sick family members for the delays.

“If these allegations are true, Dorian Dammer used deception to callously steal from someone already suffering from Superstorm Sandy,” said Acting Attorney General Robert Lougy. “Instead of helping this homeowner rebuild after this devastating storm, as promised, Ms. Dammer allegedly pocketed the money without seeing to it that the roof was repaired.”

If convicted of theft by deception and impersonation, the attorney general says Dammer three to five years in state prison and a criminal fine of up to $15,000.

Toniann Antonelli is a social content producer for NJ 101.5. She can be reached at toniann.antonelli@townsquaremedia.com, or on Twitter @ToniRadio1015.