Florida pool contractor already on probation is arrested over $117,000 in unfinished repairs

Detectives started on Aug. 21, after customers took complaints to the Florida Attorney General's Seniors vs. Crime volunteer investigators, the sheriff's office said in a Nov. 9 release. Going through reports from January 2022 to July 2024, they found 10 Flagler County cases tied to the contractor and his company, and eight customers chose to press charges. In each one, the office says, he signed a contract, took the money up front and left the work undone.

The Nov. 6 warrant lists six counts of grand theft between $750 and $5,000 and two between $20,000 and $100,000. FlaglerLive reported that the six are third-degree felonies carrying up to five years each and the two are second-degree felonies carrying up to 15 years each. He surrendered, was booked into the county jail and was released on $50,000 bond. As of Oct. 1 he had returned about $12,750 through Seniors vs. Crime mediation, some of it in payments of $25 to $50, News4JAX reported.

FlaglerLive, citing court records, said he is partway through a four-year probation, now in its second year, for taking $3,500 from a customer in 2024 while working as a plumbing subcontractor for a pool company. By its reading of the arrest report, nine customers paid $120,400 between 2022 and 2024, and work was done in only one case, worth $10,400. One 2022 customer paid $44,240 for upgrades, then hired another company to finish and redo the pool, and later received a victim compensation grant from Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

The charges are allegations and have not been tested in court. The sheriff's office says the investigation is still open and more victims may come forward. Sheriff Rick Staly told homeowners to check that a contractor is licensed, insured and in good standing, to get lien releases and to hold back the final payment until the job is done.