Brides and grooms who were scammed out of their wedding deposits by a Brooklyn gastro-pub owner, toasted as he was sent to prison Monday — raising glasses of sangria and beer less than a block from where they were supposed to host their dream receptions.
“There will always be a hole in my heart knowing that my wedding was destroyed,” said Camille Hlavka, 31, who lost her $18,000 deposit when reBar owner Jason Stevens shuttered the popular DUMBO venue in May after accepting as much as $1.8 million in deposits from up to 150 couples.
“It was heartbreaking and it took some of the magic away. He shattered my dream of a perfect wedding,” Hlavka said at Pedro’s, a modest Mexican cantina just down Front Street from reBar.
Minutes earlier, Stevens, 41, who pleaded guilty last month to grand larceny and tax fraud raps for pocketing $200,000 in state sales tax and failing to collect another $1.2 million in sales taxes, was sentenced to 3 ¹/₃ to 10 years in prison by a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge.
“What he did to me is unfathomable. How could you have such an evil heart? You’re talking about a day people have dreamed about their entire life, and you’re taking that from them,” said Hlavka.
She and now-husband Rafael Padro turned to friends, coworkers and online fundraising to make their wedding happen, on July 12 — as originally planned. They raised $6,000 and pitched in another $12,000 of their own for the bash at Deity in Downtown Brooklyn.
“I’m happy to see some form of justice, even if it wasn’t done for us,” said Kevin Baboolal, 29, who along with his fiancée Alina Requena, 29, lost $8,000 when Stevens shuttered reBar.
Stevens hasn’t been charged with any crimes related to ripping off the brides and grooms — and so none of his victims got a chance to speak in court Monday as he was sentenced solely for his tax crimes.
“The facts of the case did not support a criminal prosecution,” said a spokeswoman for Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson. “The case was referred to the state Attorney General…and they brought a civil action.”
AG Eric Schneiderman won a court order forcing Stevens to repay the $1.3 million — but it is unlikely the bankrupt and now jailed deadbeat will ever be able to make restitution. The order also bars him from ever working in the restaurant or catering industries again.
“I completely failed the trust that was put in me by my family and friends and the city and state of New York and the borough of Brooklyn and, most importantly, my employees and customers,” Stevens said in court before he was sentenced.
“I’ll spend my time in prison trying to become a better man so when I come out I can begin the long process of starting to repay the financial and emotional debts that I incurred.”
But bilked bride Requena wasn’t buying the apology.
“I think he’s probably sorry that it ended up this way [so] he’s saving a bit of face by making a public apology,” she said. “He should have been sorry months and months ago.”
Defense attorney Allan Bahn said Stevens, who carried two books, “Einstein: The Life and Times” and “Aristophanes: Four Comedies,” as he was led off to prison, had a lot of remorse.
“He was underpriced and he was borrowing money from friends and family” to keep the business going, Bahn said.