Prison sentence for hearing aid scammer
Edward D. Grabarek Jr. gets two to five years behind bars
A Berks County businessman has been sentenced to state prison for scamming dozens of senior citizens through fraudulent hearing aid sales.
Edward D. Grabarek Jr., the former owner of Hearing Aid Associates in Exeter Township, was sentenced last week by Berks Judge M. Theresa Johnson to two to five years in prison, followed by five years of special probation.
He also was ordered to pay
more than $100,000 in restitution to the victims, beginning regular payments when he is released. He received credit for 693 days time served.
Grabarek, 52, of the 3500 block of Stoner Avenue, St. Lawrence, had pleaded guilty this month to committing unlawful and fraudulent business practices.
He had been charged with dozens of counts of fraud, but prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges as part of a plea deal.
The crimes he’d been charged with occurred between 2016 and 2018 and all the victims were at least 60 years old, prosecutors said.
The amount he stole ranged from hundreds of dollars to more than $16,000, Assistant District Attorney Justin Bodor said following Grabarek’s guilty plea.
Especially troubling about Grabarek’s crimes were that he took advantage of older people who were trying to improve their quality of life with hearing aids, Bodor said.
According to court records:
Some victims had been lured to Hearing Aid Associates by signing up to win gift certificates, then were notified that they’d won. Others had been customers of Grabarek’s father before coming to Grabarek for new devices.
Some victims had told Grabarek repeatedly that their devices didn’t fit or work properly, and would repeatedly return to his office. He would not be there or would falsely claim to have fixed the devices, and charged the victims for those visits.
Most victims eventually went to other local hearing aid professionals for help, which is where they learned their devices were faulty, were used or demo models that Grabarek shouldn’t have sold as new.