By Daniel Pye<br><a href="mailto:pyed@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dan</a>
A Kenmore home improvement contractor faces 15 years in prison for pressuring an 88-year-old widow into paying more than $80,000 for home improvements that were never done or were done well below industry standards, accoring to state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Bryan Boone, 47, of Kenmore Avenue in Kenmore, was arraigned before Justice Thomas Kolbert in Cheektowaga Town Court on charges of second-degree grand larceny, a class C felony. He is being held at the Erie County Holding Center in lieu of $150,000 cash or $200,000 bond.
According to court papers, in October 2007, Boone, doing business as Urban Residential Maintenance, contacted the victim by phone and offered to make inexpensive repairs to her Cheektowaga home. She accepted, and over the next seven months Boone made repeated requests for payments and was given 70 checks for a total of $82,158.
The homeowner told investigators when she would complain about how the work was progressing, he would get very angry and assure her the work was first-rate. When she felt intimidated, she gave in and gave up more money.
“It is particularly troubling when dishonest home improvement contractors use fear and intimidation to steal from the elderly,” Cuomo said. “We will continue to work with local law enforcement to catch contractors who prey on vulnerable senior citizens.”
Police became aware of the case when Boone went to a local bank and tried to cash the 71st check. When the teller initially declined to cash the check, Boone brought the victim to the bank while he waited outside. When the victim tried to cash her check to Boone, the bank manager called the Cheektowaga Police Department and they contacted the Attorney General’s office.
According to the complaint, all of the work Boone did was careless and never completed. Instead of installing drain tile around the entire basement floor, one of the jobs he was paid to do, he did not touch an area that runs about nine-feet along the base of the front wall. As a result, water is coming onto the basement floor, which is what the drain installation was supposed to prevent. In the course of the drain job, Boone’s work allegedly resulted in stones from fresh concrete adhering permanently to the floor.
The Attorney General’s office reports that independent experts who reviewed Boone’s work declared it to be grossly substandard and of little value to the homeowner. They estimated the cost of labor and materials to be no more than $13,000.
“Elderly New Yorkers are more likely to own older homes that tend to need more repairs,” said Lois Aronstein AARP state director. “Unfortunately, too many older homeowners fall victim to contractor scams.”
According to the complaint, Boone also failed to meet the legal requirements for home repair work, including obtaining the proper permits, providing a written contract to the customer and depositing payments into a trust account. Additionally, he has ignored requests from the homeowner to return any of her money, including $3,555 for an awning he never provided, and for an accounting of how he spent all of her payments to him.
Boone and his company, Urban Residential Maintenance, are now listed on www.nyknowyourcontractor.com, the Attorney General’s Web site dedicated to helping consumers avoid home improvement scams and dishonest contractors. The site lets users view substantiated complaints that have been filed with the Attorney General’s office and read legal judgments against contractors.
