Former High Point furniture retailer sent to jail

Was convicted earlier of bilking customers

Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 6, 2011

HIGH POINT — The North Carolina Court of Appeals has reactivated the sentence of a High Point furniture retailer and sent him back to jail for failing to repay thousands of dollars he bilked from buyers who never received their furniture.

According to the High Point Enterprise, the court revoked probation for Kenneth Lee Cornelison, 48, and ordered him to serve his 54-month to 72-month prison term. Cornelison, former owner of N.C. Furniture and Antiques on College Drive, was convicted of taking more than $300,000 from 158 customers who never received their merchandise.

Earlier, a court suspended all but six to nine months of the sentence on condition that the retailer repay $200,000 to customers in monthly payments of $3,200. But the court said he never lived up to the agreement and his payments decreased over time until the last one - in May 2009 - was only $80. Cornelison argued that a leather retailer that hired him went out of business and other businesses Cornelison started failed.