by Michael Donoghue
Vermont News First
An earlier version of this news story appeared in the Caledonian-Record.
A Bradford businessman has pleaded guilty in federal court in Burlington to a wire fraud scheme that cost customers nearly $500,000 at his custom van shop.
Matthew Strong, who owned and operated East Coast Van Builds in Bradford between 2021 and the end of 2024, also agreed on Friday to forfeit at least $477,502 from his fraud, court records show.
Strong, 44, admitted he was involved in wire fraud by transferring ill-gotten money across state lines.
The exact amount of the total fraud is unknown, but could grow from the estimated $477,502 by the time he is sentenced, records show.
Strong pleaded guilty to one of two felony charges — getting $10,000 wired from a victim’s bank account in Lebanon, N.H., to a Vermont account maintained by East Coast Van Builds on March 28, 2022.
A second felony charge involving a $41,170 wire transfer by the same woman on April 22, 2022, is likely to be dismissed at sentencing.
Under the plea agreement, the proposed prison sentence is 1 year and 1 day, which would be reduced to about 10 months if Strong earns good time in prison, Chief Federal Judge Christina Reiss said.
Reiss explained in court she could reject the plea agreement once she has received a presentence report by the U.S. Probation Office outlining Strong’s life story.
The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
Defense attorney Ian P. Carleton of Burlington argued that Strong should remain free pending sentencing because he was working to earn money toward any restitution order.
Carlton said Strong was working for an off-the-grid home construction company.
Reiss said there was some question whether Strong had a felony drug possession charge pending in New York State from 2017, with a fine still owed. Carleton maintained it was closed out.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Golubock did not object to Strong remaining free pending sentencing.
During the 50-minute court hearing, Reiss imposed release conditions, including that he not possess any firearms or drugs and have no contact with any witnesses in his criminal case.
Reiss set the sentencing for May 28 in Burlington.
Court papers said Strong had at least 10 van customers who were ignored after getting payments. They were located in several states, including Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Delaware, and Maryland and used banks in those states to wire money.
Strong, who has a couple of addresses, including Vershire, was also an entertainment promoter. He has operated the annual Green Mountain Reggae Festival, a 3-day event in Bradford in recent years. He also operated Rooted Entertainment Solutions in Bradford and other music events in Topsham.
He used some of the payments made by van customers to pay certain expenses for a music festival in Topsham in 2022, records show. The money was not used for the intended vans, the criminal charges noted.
Strong actually took a customer’s van from the Bradford shop to use at the music festival in Topsham, records show.
The van owner was able to trace her vehicle to the Topsham area by using a tracking device she had in her van, the records note. Strong did not have permission from the owner to use the van for the music festival, the charge said.
Strong’s criminal charges paint a picture of a businessman who would string along his customers about the conversion of their vans while falsely claiming he was working on them.
Strong would collect payments and use the proceeds for his personal benefit, the plea agreement said.
Strong and ECVB failed to meet timelines in the conversion process. Instead, Strong collected the initial deposits — normally a $10,000 non-refundable down payment — and later got 50 percent of the remaining balance — often $30,000 or more, the plea agreement said.
He would fail to communicate with the customers — often for months at a time, court records note. On many occasions, Strong refused to communicate with customers until they made multiple attempts to reach him, usually via wire communications such as email or telephone calls.
On certain occasions, in furtherance of his scheme, Strong sent customers misleading photographs suggesting that work had been done on their vehicles when no real progress had been made, court records show.
Strong painted the interior of one customer’s van, photographed it, and then sent the pictures to different customers who were demanding progress reports on their conversion projects, the plea agreement noted.
Strong intended to mislead the customers that their van was being worked on and painted when, in fact, their vehicle was in the same or substantially the same condition as when the customer first dropped it off with ECVB, records show.
The business owner would use the photographs to demand additional payments, claiming milestones in the project had been reached, court papers said.
The business presented itself as the only East Coast-based van conversion service company. ECVB marketed itself as specializing in converting Ford Transit vans and Mercedes Sprinter vans into “reliable, self-sufficient adventure homes.”
As the COVID-19 era got underway in 2020 and people were looking for ways to travel and live, the van conversion business took off. East Coast operated with five employees and at times had seven, all under the control of Strong, court papers noted.