Georgia Man Pleads Guilty in Building 19 Scheme

Brockton, MA, July 23, 2007--One of five men charged in what authorities said was an elaborate, decade-long scheme to steal more than $4 million from Building 19 stores pleaded guilty on Friday.

Michael Brown, 63, of Dalton, Ga., pleaded guilty to six counts of larceny by false pretenses and three counts of conspiracy to commit larceny, the state attorney general's office said.

Plymouth Superior Court Judge John O'Connor sentenced Brown to three years probation, 150 hours of community service and fined him $5,000.

Prosecutors, who began investigating in 2005, said the scheme began in 1996 when flooring companies started selling rugs to Hingham-based Building 19 through International Floor Craft, an independent contractor responsible for the flooring section of the company's 15 stores.

Over the years, shipments from three outside suppliers included only a portion of the rugs ordered, or none at all, prosecutors allege. They said an employee at a New Bedford warehouse owned by Building 19 would certify that all the rugs ordered had been received. An IFC buyer would then sign off on payment for the full shipments, and those involved in the scheme would share the overpayments.

Brown was an agent for the supply companies that gave them information from the Building 19 employees about the rug shipments, prosecutors said.

The cases against four other men -- the buyer, the warehouse employee and the two owners of the three carpet supply companies -- are still pending.