John T. O’Brien charged with theft and forgery

A Lyndhurst NJ plumber was indicted on theft and forgery charges for allegedly shorting a co-op out of a massive amount of copper piping, prosecutors said.

Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said John T. O’Brien, 48, wronged members of the Colony co-op when in September of 2012 he was hired to purchase copper piping and other related materials to be used in a riser replacement project. O’Brien agreed to purchase the items and have it locked in a separate area, Molinelli said. But after comparing purchase orders to what was in the room, it was discovered that O’Brien never purchased $648,337 of the total $1,4370,733 of materials the contract called for, the prosecutor said.

O’Brien instead spent the money on personal items, Molinelli claims. He was charged with theft by deception, theft by failure to make disposition of property received, misapplication of entrusted property and uttering a forged document.

The Lyndhurst plumber was arrested on May 12, 2015 following a grand jury indictment. Bail was set at $25,000 with a 10 percent option.