Dive Brief:
- The Arizona Registrar of Contractors has fined Arizona air conditioning contractor Ronald Dew $1.2 million in what the agency said was his part in "an ongoing conspiracy" to skirt Arizona licensing law, according to The Arizona Republic.
- State licensing authorities said Dew set up at least three companies to take advantage of older customers, damage HVAC equipment, make unnecessary repairs in order to charge a customer, and train his employees to engage in the same practices.
- Dew was a licensed contractor, but his license was revoked in 2011 after the Registrar received 142 complaints against Dew and after the state Residential Recovery Fund had to reimburse Dew’s customers $14,000.
Dive Insight:
Dew has illegally operated two HVAC companies in and around Tempe, AZ, after his license was revoked, including ACME Home Services LLC. Dew installed his 92-year-old father as head of ACME but had power of attorney over all operations. When he tried to get an HVAC license for ACME, the state denied the application when it realized that Dew was behind the operation.
In the last several months, other contractors have faced criminal and civil charges for construction scams involving elderly customers. In Georgia, a roofing contractor who allegedly damaged a homeowner’s roof so that he could submit a proposal for repairs was arrested on charges of felony insurance fraud and second-degree criminal damage to property.
In Louisiana, the licensing board found a contractor in violation of licensing law for providing subpar work to older clients. The state alleged the contractor also used his customers’ information to take out loans, so the state is investigating him for mortgage fraud as well. And in Connecticut last October, a contractor was sentenced to prison for two years for scamming $36,000 out of an older couple for work that prosecutors said was only worth $10,000 to $12,000.