Austin D. Smallacombe, 37, and Amanda Smallacombe, 36, of Katie Drive, Bedminster Township, owned custom furniture business A&A Custom Furniture.
A custom furniture maker is headed to state prison for three to seven years for ripping off 40 customers in Hilltown Township and other surrounding municipalities of $118,000 and using it for personal expenses, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. recently sentenced Austin D. Smallacombe, 37, of the 300 block of Katie Lane, Bedminster Township, following the con artisan’s guilty plea April 22 to felony counts of theft by deception, criminal conspiracy to commit theft, and failing to perform services paid for in advance, per court records.
Smallacombe’s wife. Amanda, 36, took part in the scheme with him and is currently serving out her sentence, following a guilty plea earlier this year before Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman, according to authorities.
Amanda was given 60 days in jail, four months of electronic monitoring house arrest, and 40 hours of community service, according to court records, after she pleaded guilty to the same offenses as her husband, albeit misdemeanors. Austin was also given 10 years’ probation, according to court documents.
The Smallacombes must also pay back the $118,714.69 to their victims.
Read the Smallacombes' criminal complaints here.
Hilltown Township Police partnered with Bucks County Detectives and authorities from Newtown and Bedminster townships to investigate the Smallacombes and their jointly-owned business, A&A Custom Furniture, police said.
Authorities were alerted to the thefts when a Hilltown resident filed a police report, stating Austin never produced the custom dining furniture after pre-paying him $4,300 for it on Jan. 1, 2022.
Initially, the Smallcombes told the customer the job would take 10 to 12 weeks from concept to delivery. The Smallacombes, police said, provided medical excuse after medical excuse, and every weather excuse in the book for not delivering the furniture and even offered a refund.
A refund, police said, which was never sent.
Beginning in June 2022, authorities in Hilltown, Newtown, and Bedminster townships spoke to more than 40 victims of A&A Custom Furniture, according to the District Attorney. The victims resided in Bucks, Berks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties, police said.
Most communicated with the Smallacombes via Facebook and other social media to place custom furniture orders.
“The victims paid large financial deposits for the manufacturing of furniture using online payment methods,” said the District Attorney’s Office in a release.
In some instances, the customers never received the ordered furniture, and in other instances, they received the furniture, but it was poorly made with numerous defects.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber, chief of Insurance Fraud and Economic Crimes for the DA’s Office.
