On Friday, Sept. 25, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that a Cedarhurst contractor hired to make millions of dollars in renovations at St. Francis Hospital has been charged with stealing $750,000 of the hospital's money.

Michael Brooks, 62, of Cedarhurst, has been charged with two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree. He faces up to 15 years in prison, and is due back in court September 29.

Rice said that Brooks, who runs his wife's business, CBF Development Corp., was hired to perform renovations for St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn in January 2004.

The project, at a cost of approximately $2.5 million, called for renovations to the Women's Center, emergency department, electro-physiology lab, and a storage room. After being selected in the bidding process, CBF was paid by the hospital, and subcontractors were hired by CBF to perform the work.

From January 14, 2005 to June 28, 2005, St. Francis Hospital paid CBF an initial payment of $750,000 to cover work performed, materials and pay for the subcontractors.

In July 2005, St. Francis was contacted by a subcontractor requesting payment for work performed at the hospital. St. Francis then contacted other subcontractors on the project to learn if they were also awaiting payments that CBF should have already made. Rice said that some subcontractors had not been paid for more than eight months. St. Francis independently hired the subcontractors to continue and complete the project.

"Mr. Brooks' theft is an outrageous violation of the law," Rice said. "Not only did he steal from the people he hired, but also from an organization whose sole purpose is to save lives and protect the sick and vulnerable."

Handling the case for the District Attorney's Office is Assistant District Attorney Christine Burke, of the DA's Government & Consumer Frauds Bureau. Brooks is represented by Philip Foglia, Esq.