Thursday, September 11, 2008

Home Improvement Fraud: Gaston man arrested

I saw Gaston man arrested for home improvement fraud in the The Muncie Star Press and had to pass this along:

"UNION CITY — A Gaston man has been arrested on home-improvement-fraud charges — again.
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John Henry Stanley, 28, was arrested by Union City police last week after a senior citizen in the 900 block of West Division Street reported three men had offered to clean her gutters for $10 — then asked for up to $200 to repair damage they claimed to have found on her roof."

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Authorities said they determined Stanley did not have a vendor’s permit or contractor’s license to do home repair work in Randolph County, and also had no driver’s license.

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Stanley was sentenced to six years in prison by Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Richard Dailey in 1999 after he was convicted of home improvement fraud. In that case, a 81-year-old Delaware County man who was legally blind paid Stanley and a co-defendant $5,600 for work that was never done.

The criminal statute is here. The civil statute is here.

Consumers and contractors both need to be aware of these statutes.