Niagara Fest Case Uncovered

Richard Crogan pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of grand larceny and one of scheme to defraud, and depositions from two women involved in the staging of the fest appear to constitute the majority of the case against him, according to documents obtained by the Niagara Falls Reporter.

Becky Marchetti, manager of tellers for Encompass Niagara Credit Union, claims she opened bank accounts for Crogan’s private, for-profit LLC to handle the festival’s finances. Marchetti says Crogan told her the festival needed a bank account until it could be registered as a 501c nonprofit, and said she thought the festival would be a charitable event that was staffed and run by volunteers.

The festival was never registered as a nonprofit, the paper said.

The next deposition obtained by the paper was from Christine Salamone, the creative director for Andersen Window Replacement. Salamone says Crogan asked her about Andersen being the main sponsor for the festival and sought $15,000.

She agreed after Crogan claimed the company would receive vendor space at 40 to 50 different events during the year leading up to the fest, and alleges they “shook hands and it was just a verbal agreement.”

“Since then, I have told Rick that I no longer want to be a part of this festival,” Salamone said. “We paid him the full $15,000 up front, with no signed contract, and we were not getting the amount of events that he (verbally) promised.”

Niagara County Undersheriff Michael Filicetti told the Reporter an investigation is ongoing and Crogan was “taking money from the festival and funneling it through his account.” Filicetti added that prosecutors are “still in the process of building a case… It has been a long process. This most recent part came out and we (decided) we were just going to arrest him…. They are still trying to connect the dots on the finances. We can always add charges after the fact.”

The paper raised two important questions that could come into play in the case, however. First “it is unclear why an owner of a private LLC, which by law allows profits and losses to pass directly through to an owner, would be prohibited from passing income from his LLC to himself, whether from a sponsorship or other source of income,” the paper noted.

Second, the Reporter said Andersen’s name and logo did appear on stages and in promo materials at Crogan’s events, and that it is unclear how the “private owner of a company can be convicted for accepting money for a sponsorship, without a written contract that would prove or disprove fraud being claimed by the sponsor.”

The three-day festival, scheduled to begin June 20 and featuring more than 35 local and regional bands, appeared to be going forward as planned at press time.