Contractor takes man’s $1M for home, then suddenly stops construction, Florida cops say
An Alabama contractor faces embezzlement charges after Florida deputies said he misappropriated a customer’s payments.
The contractor was taken into custody after using hundreds of thousands of dollars of the customer’s money for his own purposes rather than payments on a house he was hired to build, according to a Feb. 16 Walton County Sheriff’s Office news release. The arrest comes almost two years after the customer gave the 59-year-old money, deputies said.
An Alabama man hired the Dadeville contractor in March 2022 to build him a new house for his family in Santa Rosa Beach, according to the sheriff’s office. He paid him almost $1 million for the project, deputies said.
But after a few months, the customer noticed the home’s construction was coming to a halt and thousands of dollars were disappearing, the sheriff’s office said.
The status of the home’s construction caused the man to hire a different contractor, deputies said.
He also reported his previous contractor to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, according to deputies. The department then contacted the Walton County Sheriff’s Office in August 2023 to look into the claim, deputies said.
Further investigation revealed the man embezzled $262,130 of construction payments from the customer, deputies said.
That amount was never returned to the customer because the contractor told deputies he didn’t know where the money was, according the sheriff’s office.
A warrant was issued for the contractor’s arrest Feb. 1 after the initial investigation concluded, deputies said. He was charged with embezzlement for misappropriating money, the sheriff’s office said.
After multiple failed attempts to have the man turn himself in to the authorities, the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Office had to take him into custody Feb. 9.
He was extradited to the Walton County Jail and placed under a $15,000 bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
Santa Rosa Beach is about 40 miles northwest of Panama City Beach.
This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Contractor takes man’s $1M for home, then suddenly stops construction, Florida cops say."
