LEE COUNTY, FL - Fourteen contractors accused of operating without licenses have been arrested in Lee County. The operation called Operation Freeloader began on August 12 and targeted unlicensed contractors in the county. Over three days, the sheriffs office arrested 14 people for unlicensed contracting, according to LCSO. Many of them failed to have required workers compensation insurance or a required exemption and were also charged with violating workers compensation laws. A single-family dwelling located in the San Carlos Park area was used for the operation. Undercover agents contacted a number of individuals from various Internet websites such as Porch.Com and Craigslist, where the individuals were advertising construction related services. At the San Carlos Park location, they met with undercover officers and gave proposals to perform various construction type tasks. The work proposed requires the service provider to be a properly licensed contractor, and the contractor must carry workers compensation coverage, or they must have filed a certificate of exemption. We talked with one suspects wife who said her husband never posted an advertisement on porch and never claimed to be a general contractor. Bonnie Mason told us that Edward Mason did obtain a handyman license, but that has since gone out of date. There are many unlicensed contractors who do not possess required licensing, and lack training and experience necessary to perform safe work, according to LCSO. Often unlicensed contractors do not have required permits - in order to keep county officials from inspecting their work. The 14 people arrested were also issued civil citations with mandatory court dates from Lee County Code Enforcement for unlicensed contracting and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation issued notices to Cease and Desist”. These people are renegades, said LCSO Sheriff Mike Scott. Whether theyre lowballing tree trimming jobs or just plain doing shoddy work, they give a bad name to all the licensed, legitimate contractors out there. We will continue to do operations like this to weed out the bad apples. Three additional individuals were issued Civil Citations from Code Enforcement along with notices to Cease and Desist and were released, according to LCSO. The Lee County Sheriffs Office Economic Crimes Unit partnered with the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud (DIF), the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), and the Lee County Department of Community Development, Contractor Licensing and Code Enforcement Divisions. Many of those agencies constantly look into reports of unlicensed contractors and investigate accusations on a regular basis. The following people were arrested because LCSO says they lacked the required electrical, plumbing, and general contracting licensing needed to perform the construction work: John A. Bradley, 54, of Cape Coral - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Mark Diephouse, 46, of Naples - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Joseph John Ganzel, 29, of Cape Coral - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation James Flynn Jr., 64, of Bonita Springs - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Andrea Jean Wittenborn, 48, of North Fort Myers - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Carl T. Wittenborn, 49, of North Fort Myers - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Luis Gabriel Guerra, 52, of Naples - Unlicensed Contracting Robert James Wills, 60, of Fort Myers - Unlicensed Contracting Juan F. Alban-Izquierdo, 37, of Estero - Unlicensed Contracting Dennis Edward Romstadt, 69, no address available - Unlicensed Contracting Richard Wasielewski, 58, or Fort Myers - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Alfredo Martinez-Cruz, 36, of Naples - Unlicensed Contracting and Workers Comp Violation Edward Michael Mason, 41, of Lehigh Acres - Unlicensed Contracting Neil Leslie Cottrell, 50, of Fort Myers - Unlicensed Contracting Consumers can verify professional licenses with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation on-line by clicking here. You can also call: (850) 487-1395, or download a free DBPR Mobile app through iTunes or the Google Play store. You can report unlicensed activity by calling the Unlicensed Activity Hotline at 1 (866) 532-1440, or by calling the Lee County Sheriffs Office.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:26:28 +0000
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