Prosecutor: Contractor Arrested on Charges He Stole $122K From Widow

A contractor was arrested on Monday on charges that he stole more than $122,000 from the widow of a man who died in a fire which burned down their home, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Tuesday.

The contractor allegedly took payment to rebuild the home, never finished the job and fraudulently spent the money, he added.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, with the assistance of the Asbury Park Police, arrested Alfredo “Fred” Abascal, 59, of Washington Township in Warren County, on Monday and charged him with one count of second-degree theft by deception.

If convicted, Abascal faces up to 10 years in a New Jersey state prison.

The case background …

An investigation, which began in April 2019 by the Asbury Park Police Department, revealed Abascal was the owner of Presidio Builders, LLC, a contracting company he operated out of Wayne.

In September 2018, Abascal was hired by the widow, an Asbury Park resident, to demolish the remaining structure of her fire-damaged home and to construct a new house on the same property.

After completing the demolition, Abascal stopped appearing at the job site and became inaccessible and unresponsive to the victim. Abascal never continued any work and fraudulently spent the payments he received totaling $122,500.

Anyone who has information to assist the investigative team is urged to contact Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Elethia Baldwin at 800-533-7443.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office