A crew of so-called ‘contractors’ is promising to repair driveways. Instead, they’re taking thousands of dollars from victims and never doing the work.
Larry Aycock’s driveway is in bad shape. It’s got a hole in the middle where a tree used to stand and the surface is cracked thanks to the roots. One day a man knocked on Aycock’s door and offered to fix the mess for $5,000.
“I thought I had seen the promised land,” recalled Aycock. “He was going to cut either side of the path, pull the root out, fill it in and pave over it.”
To get started, the so-called contractor wanted money.
“They had to get some money upfront to get material’s ahead of time to buy the materials with and that was their story,” said Aycock.
Aycock wrote a check for $2,700 to a woman who was part of their crew and then gave her another $1,000 in cash. Two more men showed up later, did a little painting and bolted. Aycock tried to contact the thieves to no avail.
“I kept getting a cellphone that was full or that TPS code when they’re not paid up and generally couldn’t just contact him,” said Aycock.
It’s been a month since Aycock spoke with the suspects. Detective Jason Houck with the King County Sheriff’s Office said this group maybe hitting the area.
“They’ve contacted a couple other agencies in the area that have very similar MOs. The same description of people, same names, same sort of scam where they’re wanting to do driveway work or any kind of general house work,” explained Detective Houck.
Det. Houck said the best way to deal with this scam is to research the company before paying a cent.
“Get their information, look them up on the internet, look them up on Angies list, the kind of sites that review these things. Ask for references. Any company that wants your work and does decent work will be more than happy to provide references from past clients,” explained Det. Houck.
What’s sad is, the bad guys quoted Larry $5,000 for the driveway, experts told me it could have been done for $3,000. Now the Navy veteran sits at home with his companion Cricket, praying.
“When you make the Lord’s prayer, it says forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So, I figured, well maybe we can salvage them as people. I’m still hopeful,” said Aycock.
The King County Sheriff’s department said the suspect in Aycock’s case cashed the check under the name of Tina George. She’s described as a white female, brown eyes, black hair, 5’5″, 130 pounds. She’s believed to be between 35 and 40 years old. She and her crew are using a white, Chevy extended cab pickup that has a yellow stripe with Pape stickers on it. If you’re a victim of this scam or believe you’ve seen the suspects, please contact your local sheriff’s department. And then send me and email at jesse@kirotv.com
