Contractor sent to prison for elder fraud

By Craig Kapitan, San Antonio Express-News, 3/09/2010
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Contractor_sent_to_prison_for_elder_fraud.html

The owner of a home renovation business was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday after he failed to pay about $140,000 in restitution to nine homeowners who had been scammed.

Contractor Scott Hardin, 45, owned San Antonio-based Hardin Builders and 5-H Remodeling. The district attorney's elder fraud unit began investigating Hardin after he was accused of doing minimal work after receiving large down payments for renovation projects.

Hardin pleaded guilty last month to second-degree felony counts of theft from the elderly and misapplication of fiduciary property from the elderly.

Under terms of the plea agreement, he faced up to 10 years in prison if he was unable to return $140,032.50 to his clients. Prosecutors asked state District Judge Raymond Angelini on Tuesday to assess the full sentence.

HOT: We salute Judge Angelini for taking a hard line on builder fraud and being one of the few in the Texas justice system to treat it as a crime. We hope other public officials will follow this lead.

David Bernard in Grand Prairie, for example, lost over $1 million due to builder fraud and was even able to get a court judgment against the builder, but he has not collected a dime. His contractor hid assets in his personal homestead and behind several limited liability partnerships. The builder is still in business, and the Better Business Bureau and the banks won’t accept Bernard’s complaints against the builder.

Cheryl Sparks Rea was another fraud victim. Her builder got government loans based on fraudulent HUD forms and failed to disclose the expansive clay soils that have since caused problems with the foundation and other structural elements. To compound her problem, the City of Hutto destroyed inspection records.