Two homeowners in Aurora say a contractor they hired to do concrete work either didn't do the job right, or didn't finish the job.
One of them turned detective after the concrete supplier threatened to place a lien on her property following the contractor’s refusal to pay him.
Erica Torres told 7NEWS that she hired David Paul Perez, of D.P. Freedom Construction, to repair her sidewalk and to replace her patio, with one that matched the red retaining wall in her backyard.
She's not happy with the outcome. Instead of red concrete, her patio is gray with streaks of black. And there are splatters of concrete all over the back wall of her house.
But that's not the worst of it.
Torres said the concrete supplier showed up at her front door Monday and threatened to put a lien on her house, because the check sent to him by the contractor bounced. She said it had been written on an account that was closed in December 2014.
The concrete supplier confirmed that to 7NEWS.
"I was crying. I was upset. I was mad," Torres said. "I didn't know what to do, so I got online and Googled every name and address that I could find and I went to all those addresses last night."
She found Perez’s parent’s address and was stunned to learn what a family member said about him.
“That he had just gotten out of jail about three months ago for this same thing, except… he wasn’t doing the projects. He’d rip out the concrete, take the money and run,” she said.
7NEWS has learned that Perez has a rap sheet about ten pages long in Colorado. It includes arrests for felony check fraud, theft from the elderly, theft from at-risk adults and theft of rental property. He was also charged with being a “habitual criminal,” but those charges were later dismissed.
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Perez has served time in prison for convictions of felony theft and theft of rental property.
Torres said Perez’ family made him pay the concrete supplier right then and there, so she no longer has to worry that a lien will be placed on her property.
Torres’s mom, Mary Williams, is also a victim.
She hired him about the same time to replace the sidewalk and steps in front of her house and to add a small patio.
She put $650 down.
Williams said Perez ripped out the old concrete, then left and never came back.
“The only way I could get in touch with him,” Williams said, “is if I used a different number that he didn’t know. Then, he would pick up the phone and his excuse the first time was, ‘I’ll call you right back.' Of course that didn’t happen.”
Now, Williams is trying to hire another contractor to finish the job she paid Perez to do.
“I can’t leave it like this… it’s a hazard,” she said, while pointing to the rebar sticking out of the ground in front of her door.
Perez told 7NEWS that it was a bad batch of concrete and that he couldn’t find anyone else to deliver it that close to Labor Day weekend.
He said the customer wanted it done as soon as possible, that’s why he went with the supplier he used.
He said he didn’t pay the supplier right away because he wanted some leverage in case the work had to be redone.
Torres doesn’t buy it.
“If that was true,” she said, “He wouldn’t have used the check from 2014 on a closed account.”
