High Point retailer serving jail time
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, August 11, 2003
High Point — A former High Point furniture retailer has begun serving a six- to eight-month prison sentence after admitting he bilked consumers out of more than $200,000 they had paid him for furniture they never received.
Kenneth Cornelison, former owner of N.C. Furniture and Antiques, also was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to his victims. If the money isn't repaid within five years, he will return to prison, said Stuart Albright, the Guilford County district attorney who handled the case.
Albright said several of Cornelison's relatives paid $20,000 in restitution on the day of his sentencing, and the former retailer promised to pay the remaining $180,000.
The money will go to 158 consumers, including 77 from outside North Carolina, who paid for furniture that was never delivered. Most of the orders were taken between 1999 and 2001, when Cornelison closed the store.
When consumers paid for their furniture, Albright said Cornelison had promised to deliver it in four to eight weeks.
At his sentencing, Cornelison told the court he used the money to pay legal fees and other expenses related to the business.
