SALEM — A federal judge once said of Steven Nygren, “if he found a heart of gold in someone else, he’d steal it.”
That remark came during Nygren’s 2018 sentencing in federal court in Bangor, Maine, where he’d already pleaded guilty to a scheme to embezzle nearly $800,000 from a Brooklin, Maine, boat maker — money he’d used to finance the purchase of a historic general store, pay for tickets to events, gambling and other expenses.
When he made the remark, Judge John Woodcock didn’t know that in between Nygren’s guilty plea in the case, in June 2017, and his sentencing the following May, Nygren had allegedly already moved on to another target: A Somerville couple, professors at MIT, who had hired a company called “White House Construction,” to renovate their home.
On Wednesday, Nygren, 55, is scheduled to stand trial in Middlesex Superior Court on charges that include felony larceny, conspiracy, money laundering and failing to file a tax return.
Middlesex County prosecutors say the Salem man, and a second defendant, Giovanni Nardella, set up a website advertising a construction firm called “White House Construction, Inc.” using what turned out to be stock images of what they claimed were past projects.
Nygren, who was out on $15,000 unsecured bond in the Maine case awaiting sentencing, used the name “Steve Roberts” when he met with the Somerville couple, who ended up hiring the company to renovate their home for $150,000, prosecutors allege.
Between October 2017 and July 18, 2018, — just before he reported to federal custody to start serving an eight-year federal prison term — Nygren continued to deal with the couple, who were unaware of his pending sentencing and prison term, or his true name.
The couple believed that the money they were paying to “White House” was going toward architectural drawings and then construction, prosecutors say in a statement of the case filed in Middlesex Superior Court.
They made an initial payment of $45,000 to the company, followed by a series of smaller payments. Work, including partial demolition, got underway the following April, but quickly slowed, putting the project well behind schedule.
Then, in July, the homeowners started having difficulty reaching him.
In August, they met with Nardella, who told them that “Roberts” had suffered a stroke, and that he’d also “mismanaged” their money. Prosecutors say there was just $4,000 left in the White House bank account of the nearly $150,000 the couple had paid.
But with their home stripped of siding, partly demolished, and gutted, with no protection from the elements, the couple agreed to keep working with Nardella, even though they’d have to pay another $50,000 for materials that they’d already paid for.
Nardella brought in another contractor, who is now a witness in the case. But the couple discovered that the progress remained slow. In November, they told investigators, Nardella showed them an online news story about Nygren’s Maine case. But he contended that he’d also been misled.
At a hearing before the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, Nardella insisted he didn’t know that Roberts was actually Nygren, according to court papers. But investigators note that throughout the Somerville project, Nardella sent multiple checks from the White House account to Nygren’s wife and another family member.
When investigators questioned Nygren about why he used the name Roberts, he allegedly told them it was “easier” to use than his own name and blamed Nardella for the idea.
Nygren was in federal custody when a Middlesex County grand jury indicted him in 2021. He was transferred to state custody recently to stand trial, but still has at least two more years to serve on the Maine case.
Last fall, Nygren’s current lawyer, Steven Van Dyke, pleaded with a judge to allow his client to serve a two-year prison term in the Somerville case at the same time he’s serving his federal sentence, if Nygren pleaded guilty in the case.
Prosecutors opposed the idea, asking for 32 to 48 more months in custody for Nygren after he completed the federal sentence.
After a judge indicated that he would impose a two- to three-year prison sentence to run after the federal prison term, the case moved toward trial.
Among Van Dyke’s arguments: The pending Somerville case and Nygren’s transfer to Massachusetts had already led to Nygren’s inability to gain early release by participating in program that allows federal inmates to shave a year off their sentences by taking part in substance abuse treatment.
And had he completed that program, the lawyer argued in a sentencing memorandum, he would have also qualified to be released early due to the pandemic, a request Nygren made that was denied.
The impact the new charges had on Nygren’s federal sentence was, the lawyer argued, a form of punishment.
Van Dyke did not return a call seeking comment.
Both men have pleaded not guilty.
Nardella will be tried separately in the case and his trial is scheduled for March.
Nygren, who before he worked for the Maine boat maker, ran a consulting firm, had faced financial issues for years, including bankruptcies and tax liens.
In 1999, Nygren and his wife made headlines when they pledged $250,000 to help what was then a struggling Salem Haunted Happenings festival. But the trustee overseeing Nygren’s bankruptcy put a stop to the plan.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter at @SNJulieManganis
