A Glen Head man and his paving and masonry company were charged in an alleged wage kickback scheme, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Tuesday. 

Angelo Stanco, 58, president of American Paving and Masonry Corp., faces theft and forgery charges for allegedly demanding employees kickback checks they were entitled to from the state Department of Labor after the company failed to pay prevailing wages on public work projects in Brookville and Sands Point. 

Stanco and the corporation pleaded not guilty Tuesday before Judge Norman A. Samut to six counts of third-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree grand larceny, failure to pay the prevailing wage and six counts of second-degree forgery.

If convicted, Stanco faces up to 16 months to seven years in prison. 

Donnelly said some of Stanco’s employees were unaware they were owed thousands in wages.

 “This defendant and his company allegedly failed to abide by the law, underpaying employees their rightful wages, and then doubled down on this unlawful behavior by demanding kickbacks, threatening employees with termination if they did not comply, or stealing restitution checks outright,” Donnelly said in a statement.

Stanco and his company executed two stipulations with the labor department in July 2018 acknowledging underpaid prevailing wages to his company and agreeing to pay $102,63, prosecutors said. 

After the department issued 25 restitution checks to 22 employees for the underpayments and interest in December 2018, Stanco allegedly demanded his employees kick back the checks to them for their future employment, prosecutors said. 

Seven employees were affected by the alleged scheme and the amount of the kickbacks totaled $42,595, prosecutors said. 

Many of the kicked-back checks were allegedly fraudulently endorsed by Stanco or double-endorsed in his name before being deposited into his bank accounts, prosecutors said. 

Stanco’s Mineola-based lawyer Vito Palmieri maintained his client’s innocence when speaking with Newsday.

“We are fully complying with the district attorney’s office to provide the background records and look forward to clearing my client’s name,” Palmieri told Newsday. “He’s been in business for 40 years and has maintained employees, some employees have been with him for 25 years … He is a very good employer. I believe what they’re going to find is there’s one or two disgruntled people who look to cause trouble.”

State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said New York is committed to safeguarding the rights of all workers from mistreatment.

“Wage theft is a betrayal of hardworking New Yorkers who deserve fair compensation for their efforts,” Reardon said in a statement. “In collaboration with the Nassau County District Attorney’s office, we were able to hold these wrongdoers accountable for their actions.”