Furniture store owners charged in fraud topping $230K
EAST WHITELAND » The operators of a third-generation furniture store whose business started a century ago in Philadelphia have been accused of engaging in widespread consumer fraud — demanding up-front payment for orders of high-end furnishings and failing to deliver the merchandise or provide refunds to customers, many of whom are elderly.
There were 15 individual alleged victims are counted in the criminal complaints filed Thursday by East Whiteland Detective Patricia
Doyle against Matthew Kaplan, owner of M. Kaplan Interiors, and his wife, Margaret Kaplan, who acted as the business manager for the shop.
Doyle detailed how, starting in 2021, customers would order sofas, tables, carpets, chairs, love seats, glass sculpture, beds and other items from the business and pay with checks.
When the merchandise was never delivered, they attempted find out about the purchases, only to be told on several occasions that the goods were on their way. Ultimately, they tried to get refunds from the business, but were many times wholly unsuccessful.
In one instance, when one customer complained about deficiencies in his order and asked for a refund, Matthew Kaplan responded, “I thought we were friends.”
A total of the amount of money listed as being lost by the alleged victims came to $232,683. The individual amounts lost range from a low of $750 to a high of $45,985.
Matthew Kaplan, 54, of Abington, Montgomery County, is charged with 15 separate counts of deceptive business practices, theft by failure to make re
quired disposition of funds, theft by false impression, receiving stolen property and conspiracy.
Margaret Kaplan, 56, is charged with three counts each of the same offenses. All are felonies.
Matthew Kaplan was arrested last month and charged in four cases, and was released on bail. The other alleged victims came forward after news of his arrest was reported.
A telephone message at the business on Friday stated that Matthew Kaplan had been admitted to a hospital in February. He could not be reached. He was represented in the first set of allegations by attorney James Bonner of Media.
The history
M. Kaplan Interiors, located on Lancaster Avenue in the township’s Malvern section, began business in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1922, with its founder, Morris Kaplan, providing parlor sets, appliances, and baby carriages, “at a time when business was done on a handshake,” according to its website.
“Now in its 3rd generation, M. Kaplan continues to design and furnish homes throughout the United States and abroad,” the site proclaims, “Proudly, a small family owned and operated business carrying on the family tradition.”
In the largest case of the 15, an 80-year-old woman told Doyle that in October 2021, she was furnishing a new home and ordered a variety of items from the store, including two sofas, a cocktail table, two dining tables, a queen bed, an area rug, six chairs and other furniture.
She paid the Kaplans $45,985 with three checks.
When the furniture was not delivered, she said she sent numerous e-mails to Margaret Kaplan asking about the order, messages she said that were never returned.
In June she went to the store to confront the Kaplans but never received any of the ordered items. She is unable to move into the new home because she has no furniture and does not have the funds to purchase more, Doyle’s affidavit states.
In investigating the matter, Doyle said in her affidavit, she contacted the representatives of at least three manufacturers who told her they do not accept orders from M. Kaplan because of unpaid debts.
“It is (my) belief that Matthew and Margaret Kaplan knew they could not refund and of the victims’ monies and had no intention of delivering the items the victims purchased,” her affidavit states.