By Esther Davis Mckenna
Ryan Gosin, 31, of Plainview and Michael McEnroe, 34, of East Northport, owners of the Able Group, at 2151 Marion Place, surrendered to Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon on June 22. Gosin and McEnroe are accused of defrauding the two victims of the money, which was to be used for real estate investments.
The Able Group is involved with mortgages, real estate and property repairs. Gosin and McEnroe met both investors through mutual acquaintances.
Susan Carroll, who now lives in Baldwin, heard about financial opportunities available through the Able Group from a friend in Florida and invested $150,000 in each of two properties in Seaford and Levittown. One investment was in a vacant waterfront property in Seaford, which, according to the D.A., never existed. Carroll said the defendants went as far as to issue a phony contract for the sale of the nonexistent property.
'[The suspects] were opening up an office in Florida and an old friend of mine was wined and dined by them and was considering going into business with them," said Carroll. "They convinced her to invest money, and she introduced them to me."
Carroll said her son, Kevin Colbert, helped support her and her other two sons when they were abandoned by her husband. "Kevin put a roof over our heads when we had nowhere to go," she said. "After he died on Sept. 11, we went into debt and were barely staying afloat." Carroll's 25-year-old son was killed while on the job at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, a financial-services company on the 89th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower.
Carroll said the suspects were aware that the funds she invested were from a settlement from her son's death. "Osama bin Laden took my son," she said. "[Gosin and McEnroe] took what was left."
Carroll's second son graduated from West Hempstead High School on June 26. "They used my money to go on vacations and support their expensive lifestyles, and now my son may not be able to go to college," she said. "I hope they rot and die." Carroll was a lifelong West Hempstead resident before moving to Baldwin. She graduated from West Hempstead High School.
According to reports, the Florida victim was looking to invest in real estate and had several meetings with the defendants. In February, Gosin and McEnroe presented an idea for investment in a six-family residential building in Ridgewood, Queens. The Florida investor gave the defendants $150,000, and, Dillon said, Gosin and McEnroe told the investor that they closed on the house and "the deal was final."
Dillon said, "There never was a closing on the Ridgewood property," and the defendants did not return any of the $150,000 to the victim in Florida. Carroll said the money invested by the Florida victim was intended for use for her upcoming Labor Day wedding.
Phone service was cut off at the Able Group, and no one answered repeated knocks on the door of the Baldwin business.
Gosin and McEnroe have been charged with three counts each of second-degree grand larceny, a class C felony. They were arraigned June 22 in First District Court in Hempstead, and face up to 15 years in jail.
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