A good rule of thumb in every business transaction you undertake is to do your due diligence – especially when hiring a contractor for work on your property. Last month we saw where one angry remodeling contractor hired a hit-man to kill a homeowner that he was trying to scam (an extreme situation, of course) and now we’ve found a good example of disreputable contractors (who are also burglars) being rounded up by local law enforcement in Tampa, Florida. According to a report on WFLA-TV, over 20 unlicensed contractors were arrested during an undercover sting called “Drop the Hammer.” In this case, one of the illicit contractors worked with his girlfriend to steer business his way that to homes he would eventually burglarize while performing work.
One of the suspects…is accused of doing unlicensed work and stealing as much as $19,000 worth of jewelry from his client. Deputies say he pawned the jewelry and his girlfriend helped him with the crimes. “She works at Home Depot on US-19 and she, at Home Depot, is the one that customers come in, hook them up with licensed contractors to do work. Well she wasn’t hooking them up with licensed contractors, she was hooking them up with her boyfriend…”
Click here to read the fill story on WFLA.com.
