GUILDERLAND — Four years after a Guilderland man, David Mazzeo, was convicted of grand larceny — and put on probation rather than sent to prison — he was charged with perpetrating a similar investment scam.

Mazzeo, 58, was re-sentenced on July 7 to two-and-a-third to seven years in state prison before Judge Peter A. Lynch in Albany County Court.

On April 19, 2013, Mazzeo was convicted in Albany County of third-degree grand larceny for stealing $150,000 from a couple in a real-estate investment scam, according to a release from the Albany County District Attorney’s Office; he was sentenced to five years of felony probation, and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution and to refrain from committing any additional crime, offense, violation, or illegal activity.

On May 10, 2017, the Albany County Probation Department charged Mazzeo with violating the terms and conditions of his probation by failing to pay the $150,000 restitution and for “continuing to engage in a similar type of investment scheme for which he was being supervised,” the release said.

As a result of a June 29 probation hearing, the court determined that Mazzeo had knowingly and willfully violated the terms and conditions of his probation.

At the same time, Mazzeo is being prosecuted on other charges of a similar nature. “They are two separate cases with two sets of victims,” said Heather Orth, with the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, distinguishing the county case for which Mazzeo had just been sentenced from the state case.

Mazzeo was arraigned in May on charges of defrauding investors out of nearly $150,000 to pay for restitution and lawyers’ fees he owed for previous crimes, according to state prosecutors. The state’s attorney general characterized it as an “elaborate scheme” to defraud investors, many of whom were from out of state.

Mazzeo had allegedly pitched investors on a plan to develop coal and natural gas projects about five years ago, but instead used the money to pay for $25,000 in restitution that he owed in two earlier cases against him; $20,000 in attorney fees from those cases; and $37,000 for liquor, tobacco, purchases made at Victoria’s Secret, and payments to Michael Caruso, 61, of Schenectady, who faced related charges.

Both men were charged with second-degree money laundering, a felony, and scheming to defraud in the first degree, also a felony. Mazzeo was also charged with fourth-degree grand larceny, three counts of third-degree grand larceny, securities fraud under the Martin Act, offering a false instrument for filing, and fourth-degree criminal tax fraud — all felonies.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer