If you experience contractor fraud, a long and complicated civil suit or filing a report with a consumer protection agency are not your only options. There’s another way to get the law on your side: by filing criminal charges against the contractor.
When New Jersey homeowner Mark Zarrilli gave contractor Gary Weinstein of Toms River a $7,000 deposit to install a concrete patio around his pool, he was promised the job would be completed in two weeks. But after three months of unsuccessfully trying to get Weinstein to finish the job, Zarrilli took the matter into his own hands and reported the contractor to the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office, who charged Weinstein with theft by deception.
Weinstein plead guilty to the charge. In the plea agreement for this case of contractor fraud, Weinstein faces three years of probation but will avoid prison if he agrees to repay $4,000 of the money.
According to Assistant Prosecutor Charlie Clark, being able to file charges of theft by a contractor really depends on the facts of the case. “You need to be able to prove a particular defendant had criminal intent when signing the contract. We had evidence to suggest he was not going to perform when he entered into the contract. He plead guilty and admitted just that.”
If you think you’ve become the victim of theft by deception, Clark says the first step is to file a report with your local police department.
Commenting in a prepared statement regarding his experience reporting contractor fraud, homeowner Mark Zarrilli said, “The guilty plea brought closure to a long and arduous journey, which began with the simple act of attempting to improve my family’s home nearly 18 months ago. This conviction and sentencing should send a clear message to all would-be rogue home improvement contractors.”
I hired a contractor to fix 2 existing rooms and build a small addition. He scammed me out of $10,000.00 dollars and his work was nasty at best.
I hired my nephew, recommended by his father. He scammed me out of $18,000. I reported to Salt Lake City Police, but they told me it was a civil matter and they could not get involved. This was the second time I know of that he done this. The first time the case went to small claims court with a judgment against him. That was a year ago and he has still not paid a cent. I think contractors know how easy it is to take money upfront for a project and then not do the work. Since it is a civil matter it is extremely difficult to get the money back.
I hired a “trusted” contractor a family I know referred to me, Sergio Fuentes Aguilar of F Contractor came and seemed like a very nice guy as the family had told me. He started the job in August of 2020. He did a great job fixing half of the project than due to COVID he requested I buy the materials for the rest of the project ahead of time to avoid prices going higher which I agreed but that left me with little money left to pay him. Right after I paid him to get the materials which he said bought with his discount as a contractor started not to show up with excuses and lies about his son’s death which had happened a year ago and needed to do the rituals of end of the year ceremonies of his beliefs etc. He then said the criminal who killed his son was getting out of jail so he needed to be off from work a few days to attend that. After that he developed high blood pressure, his mother in Mexico got very ill, etc, etc. He sent a couple of his workers a few times to do some work then got lost again saying he had to go to Mexico to take care of family sicknesses. He also said his youngest son had COVID and he needed to be away which he did and not showed up to work but did sent a few of his workers to do some work. He keeps saying he will finish the job in my home but keeps calling to say his workers are coming and they never show up, he then texts saying he is at the doctor with high blood pressure and diabetes medicines. I need to report him and warm people, women, particularly about this scam contractor. He had made several comments that lead me to believe he is a criminal and I fear he might do damage to me or my children. I need to hire a lawyer. Advice, please.
If you have paid him for work that he has not done, you may be able to file a criminal complaint with your local police department for theft. Sometimes when there is a risk of a criminal prosecution, the bad contractors get very cooperative!
We paid a contractor in June 2020 to do a retaining wall two decks and put up a pool the bid was 41,000 we gave him fifteen thousand it is now June 2021 the city came out and the retaining wall that they put in is not up to code nor did they even tell the city that they had finished it so it could be inspected they put up a pool filled it they did not put the pumpkin so now we have a green pond in a 28-foot pool in our backyard. The two Decks that they put up we’re done with nails and it look like a five-year-old put Legos together. Our fence that is required by the city before we put water in a pool consists of 12 Post concreted in to the ground oh, but no fence. They dug trenches for the plumbing that they never did. And we have had a mound of sand / Rock in our backyard for over a year that has it’s only washaway valleys because it’s been sitting so long. We have three kids 14,12 & 9 that look at our backyard everyday and wonder what went wrong and why these people did this to us. Come to find out they are seeking out retired veterans or military active duty and they take money from them they start a project and then leave and never go back. So I hired another contractor gave them $18,000 and this is the company that found out that the retaining wall that we paid $10,000 for has to come down, the $9,000 pool we’re not even sure it’s good anymore the decks that I’ll just put up with the two by fours and four by fours have to come down and now that the wall has to come down we’re out of money. We don’t know what to do and the contractors that we originally hired that just abandon the job won’t answer the phone. At this point I’m at a loss for words patience and understanding and my kids still don’t have a pool and every day we look at this backyard and I hurt your feelings and we have nowhere to turn. Thank you. And BTW this company is still in business.
I had a 203K loan for a small addition on my home and gut and update the living, dining, sunroom & kitchen area (open floor plan all one large area). Hired a retired K9 officer from our town that was a licensed general contractor who had an erratic work schedule and rarely showed up over 3 1/2 months and that after starting the 6 month job 6 weeks late. The work that was done was horrible, examples tankless water heater/boiler that looked like a 3 year old with an erector set installed the unit, windows damaged and door installed crooked. Using materials I paid for and not doing the work correctly, such as installing bathroom shower tile completely wrong with no spacers and major gaps at the corners.
Found that the general contractor was actually using his friends licenses and performing the electric, plumbing & heating himself. Terminated his contract when I realized what he was doing. Thankfully he only requested one draw out of the 5 that are permitted. As soon as I terminated his contacted the HUD consultant and bank directly for payment, the proceeded to bill me for out of scope unauthorized work that wasn’t in the contract. Then he placed a lien on my house and rushed me into a quick arbitration, which my lawyer bombed. I have texts with the GC and his subcontractor blatantly admitting to all the stuff above, and I took pictures of all the work they did as it was done as backup.
I don’t believe any of them are bonded and I’ve exhausted all my credit lines paying the new contractors to correct and complete the work to put my home that I’ve been living in the last 8 months, back together. Is there anyway to recoup some of my loses that don’t include paying an attorney money I don’t have?
I paid a lot more money for work to be done in my home. It was poorly done and some done done at all. I have proof of the contract, the poor workmanship, and the money paid. I am 70 years old and two men came to my home and coerced me into paying. into paying because I signed a contract. Now I know I did not have to pay.It’s kind of a story that needs to be told in person. After I idid pay for some I thought was complete, a few days later everything they did started to break down. They installed an 1,000 for floor for what I now know was way more that I should have paid. The floor started to buckle. When I had experts check , I found that iw was installed incorrectly and can not be fixed. When I contacted the contractor he screamed at me and said he was not replacing the floor or giving my money back. I have documentation.
Hi Lisa, are you in NJ? Sounds exactly like a Contractor I am dealing with.