Owner of popular Pittsburgh interior design firm charged of fraud and theft
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Customers of a popular interior design firm say they feel robbed and have no hope of seeing their money again.
The owner of Black Cherry Design, a Pittsburgh company, faces several charges, including theft and fraud. One of the alleged victims was Brandon Mahler and his wife.
"We've reached out to her, and she came to our home to do an assessment," Mahler said. "And we decided to contract with her for interior design planning, procuring furniture, subcontracting out some of the more labor-intensive tasks."
Lauren Piasecki, the owner of the design firm, provided the couple with a design plan, and Mahler said he started writing checks thinking she started ordering furniture.
"The only thing we got out of the order of 20-some items, most of which were large items, rugs, furniture, end tables. These aren't small things. We ended up with two lamps. That was it."
Mahler sued Piasecki to try to recover his $16,000 and started digging deeper. He found multiple felony home improvement fraud and theft by deception charges across multiple jurisdictions.
And on Monday, a Fox Chapel couple called Pittsburgh police claiming Piasecki pocketed upwards of $170,000 and produced nothing. KDKA-TV talked to the homeowner, who did not want to appear on camera. She said she does not expect to see her money again, but she wants to put a stop to Piasecki and warn any future victims.
"I've been told she's not actively doing business," Mahler said. "But one, I'm not convinced of that. And two, there might be clients that even though she might not be actively seeking new clients that she's currently engaged with now and have projects that are open-ended that need to be made aware of this."
KDKA-TV's attempts to reach Piasecki on Tuesday were not successful. Piasecki is expected to go before the magistrate in Sharpsburg on Dec. 18.