LAWRENCE — Dorris and Bill O'Hearn signed a contract with American Sunroom Co. in November 2003. One month later, company owner James Brien sent the couple a Christmas card.
In February 2004, Brien arrived at the O'Hearn's home in Leominster to take final measurements for their new sunroom. But what was supposed to be a "dream come true" quickly turned into a nightmare, Dorris O'Hearn said yesterday in Lawrence Superior Court.
"There would be no sunroom," she told Judge Maureen Hogan. "What James Brien did was make one of his own dreams come true by stealing $23,000 from us."
Brien, 60, of North Andover, was sentenced yesterday to four years in jail.
In January, he was found guilty of 22 counts of general contractor violations, having failed to build sunrooms for customers who paid him a collective $365,586.
Hogan said Brien will be eligible for parole after two years. Upon completion of his sentence, he must serve 10 years of probation.
Brien must pay his victims back in full, and while on probation must submit annual financial disclosures to officials and inform them of any future business ventures.
In court yesterday, Assistant Attorney General David Andrews told Hogan that Brien has been convicted in the past in connection to similar schemes involving the sale of pools, water filtration systems, and for a fraudulent commodities trading business.
"What we have here, your Honor, is a defendant who has not learned from his past transgressions," Andrews said.
The state attorney general's office launched an investigation into American Sunroom Co. in February 2004. Brien was indicted by the Essex County grand jury in June 2006. He pleaded not guilty in Superior Court that July and was released on personal recognizance.
Charged with one count of larceny over $250 by false pretense and 22 counts of general contractor violations, Brien's trial lasted nine days.
On Jan. 29, Hogan found Brien not guilty on the larceny charge but guilty on all 22 general contractor violations, which each carry a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
Brien sat quietly before Hogan in court yesterday afternoon.
"Your crimes were not the result of bad business judgment and bad business decisions," Hogan told Brien before issuing his sentence. "Your goal was to get money for you and your family and you took from good, hardworking people to do so."
Only O'Hearn, 65, chose to read a victim impact statement yesterday.
O'Hearn said any money she and her husband receive from Brien will go toward the second mortgage they took out in 2006 to build a sunroom with a different contractor.
"It's finally over," said O'Hearn. "We've been waiting for this."
