SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors have filed criminal charges against a pool contractor and the owner of a construction company who have been the subjects of FOX 13 Investigations.
Ryan Goodrich, owner of RG Construction, has been charged in state court with a felony count of “theft by deception” and a misdemeanor count of “acting as a contractor without a license.” Charging documents say the counts stem from an agreement Goodrich made to design and construct a deck on a home in West Jordan.
“The big red flag that kind of really caught my attention,” said Max Broman, co-owner of FRDM Turf in Sandy, who hired Goodrich as a subcontractor on the job, “is he had told me at the beginning that he was working on the permit. But then we got a red notice from West Jordan.”
“That's basically them saying, ‘Hey, there's no permit, and you guys are building something.’”
The work Goodrich did do wasn’t satisfactory, Broman says.
“We have to pretty much rip down the entire deck” that Goodrich built, Broman said. “He caused severe damages to the actual house.”
PLAYING ALONG
The criminal charges represent a chance for a rare vindication of homeowners or general contractors who feel victimized. The state agency that regulates contractors, the Utah Division of Occupational Licensing, doesn’t have the authority to order restitution, lawsuits are long processes with no guarantees of recouping money, and police often consider contractor disputes to be civil matters that they won’t investigate.
Broman says Goodrich had good reviews on a residential contractor phone app. But Broman didn’t think to do a web search that would have revealed FOX 13 News’ previous stories on Goodrich.
Broman paid Goodrich $30,000 as a downpayment at the start of the job.
“I can freak out at him, da, da, da,” Broman explained. “And I'm like, 'You know what? I'm gonna kind of just play along.'”
Broman already had written agreements with Goodrich and a paper trail showing payments. Next, he wanted to collect conversations.
“Ryan was saying a lot of stuff in text,” Broman explained.
“So, we kind of trapped him in a lot of little things in there. Just getting him to commit to stuff.”
At one point, Broman said, Goodrich agreed to repay money, but then did not show up to make the refund.
Similar criminal charges have been filed against Goodrich in two other cases alleging that he accepted money for jobs and did incomplete or no work without making refunds.
“My final numbers… is somewhere between negative $63,000 to $65,000 in damages and losses based on what he did to us,” Broman said.
RESTITUTION... MAYBE
Criminal charges have also been filed against Rob Riley at Triton Pool and Spa. In three criminal cases charging him with theft and fraud, Riley is accused of taking money to construct new pools, and not finishing jobs. In one case, prosecutors allege that he received more than $100,000 to construct a pool.
Text messages with the customers, in which Riley commits to deadlines or to returning money, are among the evidence in at least one of his prosecutions.
Riley has not entered any pleas but denied wrongdoing in a FOX 13 interview last year. Goodrich has pleaded not guilty. An attorney representing him declined to comment. The Utah Attorney General’s Office has also filed 21 counts against Goodrich in what the office calls a fraud at Goodrich’s title agency.
If convicted in the contractor cases, judges could order Riley and Goodrich to pay restitution. Broman, at least, doesn’t expect to receive money back.
“But I do feel like it's my due diligence as a contractor,” Broman said, “and somebody who genuinely loves his customers, that we can stop people like this.”
The Utah Department of Commerce has a website educating the public on frauds, including those with contractors.