A man who was accused in 2017 of fraudulently collecting grant money to repair his Hurricane Sandy-damaged home was acquitted this week, the first such acquittal in a Sandy fraud case brought by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Patrick Yannotta, facing charges of theft by deception and unsworn falsification, was found not guilty Tuesday after about four hours of jury deliberations in Superior Court in Ocean County. The verdict was reached at the conclusion of a four-week trial before Judge Michael T. Collins.