Ontario family spent $155,000 on a renovation that left their home unlivable, and police want the contractor

The warrant lists three charges: fraud of more than $5,000, obtaining money by false pretences of more than $5,000, and uttering a forged document. According to the Windsor Police Service, its Amherstburg criminal investigations unit opened the case in early October after a report that deposits had been paid for renovations that were never finished. Police said MBS Home Solutions, the business name Flaricee used, had been dissolved in November 2024 over non-compliance. The charges have not been proven in court.

Homeowner Tonya Azevedo told CBC News she remortgaged her Alma Street house for $200,000 to build a rear addition and garage, enlarge the kitchen and main bedroom, and put in an en suite and a third bedroom upstairs. She paid $45,000 when demolition started in March. The job stalled in August. Azevedo said she turned down Flaricee's request for more money, and the invoices and receipts she asked for never came. She said she then found soil packed into the hollow concrete blocks of the addition's foundation, live wires behind drywall and a broken sewer line. Town documents obtained by CBC show Amherstburg ordered construction stopped because the work strayed from the approved plans and the town found "multiple deficiencies."

The family has moved in with a relative, and Azevedo said the rest of the loan went to tearing out and redoing the work. Flaricee told CBC he was fired before he could fix the problems and that subcontractors handled part of the job, without saying who did the faulty work. He said his licence had expired but he carries insurance. The Better Business Bureau told CBC that owners should check a contractor's licence directly with the agency that issued it. Police ask anyone with information on his whereabouts to call 519-736-8559, ext. 230.