By DEENA YELLIN and ALLISON PRIES
WESTWOOD — Complaints against a furniture-store owner

accused of taking cash then closing shop will be reviewed by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Bill Frechtman, owner of the now-defunct Larry’s Baby, Youth & Teen Furniture in Westwood, took thousands of dollars from customers for furniture they never received. He shut down in January, leaving customers stranded.

Frechtman was not in Municipal Court on Wednesday for an arraignment on complaints that were issued following a probable cause hearing last month.

The entrepreneur injured his back, was placed on bed rest and is taking medication that prevented him from driving, one of his lawyers told Municipal Court Judge Alan Karch.

Three criminal complaints were filed against Frechtman in Westwood Municipal Court, officials said. Eight complaints were filed against him with the Bergen County Division of Consumer Affairs, Office of Consumer Protection.

Frechtman’s lawyer, Jay Atkins of River Edge, said the entire case against his client is frivolous. “This is just about a business that went bad, just like a million businesses in America do,” Atkins said. “There’s no fraud, no deception, nothing.”

Atkins said that companies shut off credit to the store, and that’s why Larry’s was unable to deliver its goods.

“That’s what happens sometimes in bad economies,” the lawyer said. “He took no money under false pretenses. He was as devastated as the customers. He didn’t commit any crime. He is helping to get their money back. He should not be held personally responsible for the corporation. The corporation has no assets. It went out of business.”

Frank Benedetto, who is heading an investigation by the county Office of Consumer Protection, confirmed that Frechtman is cooperating with his office to help customers get their money back.

“He looked up the paperwork to see who didn’t get furniture so they could get refunded. Many of them ended up being reimbursed by their credit card companies,” Benedetto said. “I’m not closing this case until every single person gets their money back.”

Criminal charges are still pending against Frechtman by those who paid in cash, so that part of the case is still open, he said.

The original owner of Larry’s, Larry Buxbaum, said he was devastated when he learned what happened at the Booker Street business he sold 13 years ago to Frechtman. He posted his phone number in the empty store window, urging customers to call him if they needed help. He said he helped several customers recover their furniture.

A former saleswoman who worked at Larry’s for six years said Frechtman called her on her day off to tell her “not to come back to work.”

She described Frechtman as the kind of man who was “cold to his employees” but charming when necessary.

“We kept getting calls form vendors who wanted their money,” she said. “He’d sweet-talk them. He’d say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I’ll send you the check right away.’ But he never did.”

The woman said Frechtman left his employees in the lurch, the same as he did customers.

“He fired most of us in December and didn’t even give us time to clean out our desks. I wasn’t able to take my client file, so I couldn’t help people out. I hope people don’t think we were in on this, too.”

E-mail: yellin@northjersey.com