Judge to Elbridge auctioneer: Pay back your victims or go to jail

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Elbridge auctioneer Tim Conroy was in Onondaga County Court Tuesday to ask for more time to pay restitution. The antique dealer failed to pay his debts to estate holders for items appraised and auctioned.

The IRS has a lien on his house which is preventing Conroy's ability to sell the house to help pay back the people he owes. Conroy is due back in court next month.

Last summer, he spent weekends in jail on similar charges in Cayuga County.

Wampsville (WSYR-TV) - Elbridge auctioneer Tim Conroy will spend weekends in county jail for the next seven weeks.

The antique appraiser was sentenced in Madison County Court after pleading guilty to two counts of third-degree grand larceny.

Conroy failed to repay debts he owed to the holders of two estates for the items he appraised, removed from each property and then auctioned.

He was ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution by August to avoid being sent to prison for up to three years.

Conroy is also facing similar charges in Cayuga and Oswego Counties too.

 

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Elbridge auctioneer Tim Conroy pleaded guilty Monday morning to a 3rd degree grand larceny charge. He must pay $36,000 in restitution by August to avoid a 1-3 year state prison term.

Conroy is accused of not handing the profits of auctions over to his clients.

If Conroy is able to pay the $36,000, he will likely spend a small time in jail with 5 years probation, according to the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office. A term of that probation would be to pay an additional $80,000 in restitution to 5 other people who live in Onondaga County who have also filed criminal complaints.

Conroy has already been sentenced in Cayuga County Court for another case. Starting on April 30th, he will be spending weekends in jail for four months. Conroy was also required to pay restitution in that case, and has done so, according to the Cayuga County District Attorney’s Office.

Charges are still pending against Conroy in Oswego and Madison Counties. Conroy’s attorney says if he pays restitution of $8,000 in Madison County, he will get a concurrent sentence of weekends in jail starting at the end of April. In Oswego County, if Conroy pays full restitution, the DA’s office will likely lessen the charges to a misdemeanor.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – An Elbridge auctioneer who has been at the center of a three-year-long Your Stories investigation was sentenced Tuesday morning to 4 months of weekends in jail for grand larceny.

Tim Conroy will have to report to jail in Cayuga County at the end of April.

In December, Conroy pleaded guilty to taking and selling customers belongings and never handing over any of the profits. The Attorney General said in December that he was ordered to pay more than $150,000 in restitution to dozens of other victims who had filed complaints. At the time of his guilty plea in Cayuga County, Conroy paid $6,000 in restitution to the victim in Auburn. He owed that victim another $10,000, and because he was able to pay it, Conroy avoided a longer prison term.

Before he was sentenced, Conroy was asked if he had anything to say. He apologized for his many mistakes saying, "I never intended to harm anyone, all I really want to do is make things right."

Conroy’s lawyer, Jim McGraw, says he is committed to making full restitution with all of his victims. “He's a business man, his expenses got out of control. He had some expectations of the sale of real estate that didn't go through and he got stuck, he did wrong and he admitted it and he showed the remorse and the judge I think did the right thing,” McGraw said.

Tim Conroy will have to report to jail on the weekend of April 30th. Before that, he’s got several other court dates scheduled in other counties on similar charges.

Elbridge (WSYR-TV)- Tim Conroy, the Elbridge auctioneer at the center of a 3 year Your Stories investigation is likely going to jail.

The owner of TW Conroy auctions, pleaded guilty to grand larceny today in Cayuga County court for selling a customers belongings and never handing over the cash.   Conroy paid $6,000 in restitution today in court.  If he comes up with the remaining $10,000 he owes the victim by January 15th, he'll likely be sentenced to shock probation which is 6 months in county jail and 5 years probation.  If he fails to come up with the rest of the restitution, the Cayuga County DA will ask he be sentenced to 1-3 years in state prison. 

He's facing similar criminal charges in Onondaga, Madison and Oswego counties. Tim Conroy has also been ordered to pay more than $150,000 in restitution to dozens of other victims who filed complaints with the NYS Attorney General’s office.  So far, the AG says, Conroy hasn't come through with those scheduled payments.  Until the restitution is paid and a $500,000 bond is posted, Tim Conroy will remain out of the auction business. 

Conroy is due back in court on January 19th for sentencing.

Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - An Elbridge auctioneer who's been at the center of a three-year long Your Stories investigation was arraigned in Onondaga County court Monday morning on a grand larceny charge. 

Tim Conroy, of T.W. Conroy Auctions, pleaded not guilty.

A grand jury indicted Tim Conroy on charges he ripped off a customer by taking her belongings to sell at auction, and never handing over the profits. It's a story we've heard from dozens of his customers time and time again. Conroy had no comment when he left the courtroom Monday.

Aside from the grand larceny charge he was arraigned on in Onondaga County court Monday, Tim Conroy is facing similar charges in both Oswego and Cayuga Counties.

His auction business has been shut down by the Attorney General's office but just last week Conroy started soliciting appraisal business in a local newspaper. The A.G.'s office says they can only stop of him from auctioning, not appraising, but they are keeping a very close eye on him to make sure he doesn't slip up.

Tim Conroy entered a not guilty plea.  If no plea deal is made between now and then, he's due back in Onondaga County court on December 18th.