ROCKLEDGE, Fla. – An unlicensed contractor swindled a Rockledge woman out of thousands of dollars for repairs on her Hurricane Irma-damaged roof that he never completed, according to the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
Jennifer Whitten said she paid Don Fulton $5,304.07 on Feb. 10, 2018, to re-roof her home, but when she checked with the city of Rockledge, she realized no one had applied for a permit to complete the work, the report said.
"I would say within the first 24 hours, I knew this was not going the right way," Whitten said.
Fulton, 41, began working on the home but stopped after the victim expressed concern over the lack of permits, documents from the Rockledge Police Department said. Fulton told the woman to "stop stressing" and insisted he would get the permits but never did, according to the affidavit.
"He did shoddy work," Detective Bob Weigel said. "First time a rain came, it leaked."
Fulton told the woman to "stop stressing" and insisted he would get the permits but never did, according to the affidavit.
"The thing of course that hit me the hardest was losing the money," Whitten said. "It's not just me that lives in that house; I live there with my daughter."
Records show Fulton faces charges of contracting without a license during a state of emergency and falsely identifying as a contractor. Fulton was found guilty in a grand theft case from 2015, records show.
Whitten paid another roofer $10,000 to finish the job.
She might never get back the $5,000 she paid Fulton but she's happy her call to police got crime results.
"I would just hope that he would finally learn his lesson," Whitten said.
For information on how you can see if a contractor is licensed to make repairs, click here.