BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)

Roofing contractor Todd Cameron who once gained notoriety for ripping off his customers is now going to prison for ripping off Uncle Sam.

U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara sentenced Cameron to 51 months behind bars after he pled guilty earlier this year to filing false tax returns and harboring illegal aliens to work for his roofing company.

The New York Attorney General declared Cameron Roofing “the biggest home improvement scam” in Western New York when he was sentenced to two-to-15 years in state prison in 2005, for ripping off nearly 50 customers.

After serving his state sentence, Cameron changed the name of his business from Cameron Construction to Buffalo Roofing Comany, moved the firm to Clarence, but this time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Ippolito said he caught the eye of federal law enforcement.

“He was hiding his income from the government so that he would not have to pay his fair share of taxes.”

Cameron also pleaded guilty to transporting illegal immigrants from Maryland, housing them, and paying them off the books to work for his roofing business.

“He did this to gain a competitive disadvantage to the other roofing companies who work in this district. So it was all about money.”

But those who know Todd Cameron say he is a walking contradiction, that he would often step in when other less scrupulous contractors left their customers high and dry–just like he used to do.

Last year when Good Shepherd Temple was one of several Buffalo churches ripped off in a grant writing scam, Cameron performed a half million dollar repair job for the church at no cost.

But as Ippolito points out, Cameron also admitted breaking the law.

“He was hiring illegal aliens to work for his roofing company and then harboring them, transporting them, offering them meals, obviously paying them.”