A Valparaiso resident has been charged with home improvement fraud after the Porter County Sheriff’s Police said that nearly a year and a half after he accepted a 10-percent upfront payment on a job in Jackson Township, he has not yet begun the work.

Earle E. Naillieux Jr., 62, of 804 Grandview, was charged on Jan. 11 with home improvement fraud. He was arrested on that charge on Monday and booked into the Porter County Jail, the PCSP said.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Officer William Knapp of the PCSP, on July 16, 2008, a homeowner in the 700 block of Old Suman Road reported entering into a contract with Naillieux—doing business as J & S Services—for gutter work and pole-barn construction.

Cost of the pole barn: $20,850. Cost of the gutter work: $4,250.

The homeowner paid Naillieux 10 percent of the total cost of the two projects, or $2,510, Knapp stated in his affidavit, “but as of Dec. 18, 2009, Naillieux has done no work, nor has he returned any of the money forwarded to him.”

Knapp stated that he met with Naillieux shortly after interviewing the homeowner. “He gave some excuses regarding potential problems with acquiring zoning variances but assured me that he would contact (the homeowner) to correct the situation.”

Home improvement fraud is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Posted 1/27/2010