SHERIDAN — The owners of a Sheridan construction company are facing fraud charges following an investigation into a complaint on Aug. 28.

New York State Police received the complaint and interviewed the complainants, who stated they entered into an agreement in May with Stanley Martucci Construction to build an addition to their residence and a garage. The agreement was hand-written and stated the construction would commence June 2 for a total of $53,000.

The construction company requested a down payment of $26,500. The complainant provided a check for the requested amount, but the construction company declined the check and then requested a cash payment. The complainant supplied the construction company with $5,000 cash instead to start construction.

Over the next couple weeks, the correspondence to the construction company was via Facebook messenger. The work did not start on June 2 as was in the agreement. Instead, a crew was sent on June 12 to begin demolition of the old garage.

When the garage portion was completed on June 20, another $5,000 was given to the construction company to begin the excavation work at the residence. Throughout June and July, the construction company requested additional cash, which the complainant provided. By Aug. 8, the construction company had received $46,000 and still no building had begun. Only the garage had been torn down and hauled away and the building site excavated and leveled.

Investigation by troopers showed there was a similar complaint regarding the construction company. Troopers interviewed this complainant and discovered a similar incident occurred with a civil suit still pending. While interviewing the second complainant, troopers discovered that there were two additional civil suits against the construction company for unfinished work that had been paid for.

Troopers’ investigation revealed that the construction company conspired to defraud several individuals for a respective total of $49,100. Troopers located and interviewed the owners of the construction company, Stanley Martucci and Alycia Martucci, regarding the investigation. Investigation revealed that the owners of the construction company defrauded people by false representation and promises, collecting large amounts of money and initiating projects with minimal completion.

Stanley and Alycia, both from Dunkirk, were arrested and charged with first-degree scheme to defraud. They will appear before Sheridan Town Court at a later date.