La Grange Inn Shuts Down, Customers Want Deposits Back

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - A Long Island catering hall suddenly shut their doors, and people are wondering where their deposits are.

WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reports the La Grange Inn in West Islip is closed down, and a lot of people are angry.

WCBS 880 Reporter Sophia Hall says La Grange Inn shut down and people want their deposits back.

"They left me without $1,200 or $1,300 - every dime counts these days. I count my pennies," said Tom Lorch, owner of Black Forest Bakery in Lindenhurst.

Lorch is not alone, other people have come forward to say they never got their deposits back.

"They took a lot of people's money and they just left town. This goes back three months and there's people just getting letters now saying - oh by they way, we're closed and you party's been done," said Lorch.

Newsday reports La Grange, which dates to the 1750s, was being leased by Dennis Garren, Scott DiDonna and David Rousso.

The trio took over in 2009, promising to keep it a catering hall and restaurant after hundreds of residents opposed a proposal to have Walgreens move onto the property. La Grange had a grand reopening in April 2010 but problems soon surfaced, said one of the property's owners, Rick Olivieri, and by summer the lessees stopped paying him rent. "They said they were going to return everyone's deposit," he said. "They never told us when they were actually leaving, they just left."

The Suffolk County Consumer Affairs Office sent violations to the owners, charging them with deceptive practices.

The owners of the catering facility could not be reached for comment.