The owner of a Pittsburgh-based elevator service is facing four felony charges after New Kensington police allege he failed to refund more than $20,000 to a New Kensington church over a canceled job.

Sylvester Louis Lapinski Jr., 72, of Shaler is charged with diversion of services, theft by deception, deceptive business practices and receiving advance payment for services and failing to perform.

Lapinski owns Your Independent Mobility in Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood. In court records, police say he owes $20,500 to Faith Tabernacle Assembly in New Kensington for a chair lift the church ordered but later canceled.

Contacted by telephone at his business Thursday, Lapinski said he had not been notified of the charges and did not know they had been filed. He said he would wait until getting official notice before deciding how he would respond.

Lapinski said he does not have a lawyer.

A representative of the church could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In court filings, police said the pastor of Faith Tabernacle Assembly came to the police department March 12 to file charges for theft of services. Police filed charges in court March 15.

According to the court record, Faith Tabernacle hired Lapinski in January 2023 to buy and install a chair lift for $34,420. In March 2023, Lapinski cashed a check from the church for $30,500 for the agreed-upon services.

Faith Tabernacle’s board of directors rescinded the order in September because Your Independent Mobility was unable to fulfill the terms of the agreement in an appropriate time frame. The church asked for a refund of the $30,500, described in court records as a deposit.

Lapinski later told the pastor that canceled orders would be refunded at only half of the cost, but the pastor said that was not discussed or agreed upon and was not in any paperwork they had signed, according to court records.

The church received $10,000 from Lapinski, leaving the balance of $20,500. A letter offered an explanation for why the money was not fully refunded: “Because of the pandemic, available funds were used to fund other jobs, which will wrap up by the end of the year.”

In another letter quoted verbatim in the court filing, Lapinski wrote the pastor that the company intended to make a full return on the deposit and had started an account where money would be deposited until it could send a certified check for the balance due.

“We will not charge the church for the time spent on this project,” Lapinski wrote. “There is no charge for our time because of your patience with the balance due.”

Lapinski said Thursday he hopes to get $5,000 to Faith Tabernacle by the end of March. He warned that if he files for bankruptcy, the church would get nothing.

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