Bail set at $750K for Middleton's Jaime Ford in alleged home improvement scam
A year later, Lilja is about to move to an elderly housing complex, her home of 50 years all but in ruins, a Dumpster full of asbestos in the yard, and her bank accounts drained.
On Wednesday, police arrested the man they believe to be responsible for her plight, an unlicensed home improvement contractor named
Judge
As Lilja, seated next to her daughter and son-in-law, heard the ruling, she pumped her fist in the air and said, "Yes, yes, yes!"
Her case is just the tip of the iceberg, say prosecutors.
Lilja is one of at least a half-dozen victims identified by investigators from the
Ford pleaded not guilty to a long list of charges that include multiple counts of larceny, home improvement contractor fraud, violating the state's air pollution law, forgery, uttering, tax evasion, perjury, money laundering and worker's compensation fraud.
Through his lawyer,
Mallard, who investigated the case along with
Ford, said Mallard, lives in a
In fact, said the prosecutor, one of those Cadillacs, a 2014 Escalade SUV, was purchased on the day after Lilja gave him a check for
Lilja, a retired registered nurse, and her daughter and son-in-law
They said in an interview that they asked all the right questions -- Was he insured? Was he licensed? Ford gave them the right answers. He showed up at the home with lobsters and imported beer, and bent over to kiss Lilja's forehead, calling her "nonni," Italian for "grandmother."
He told them he would be able to do what they wanted -- add a second story and expand the 1950s ranch-style home so that the Robinsons could move in with their children upstairs and Lilja could remain downstairs. The cost would be approximately
The first red flag popped up when Lilja told him that she planned to get a construction loan for the project.
Mallard explained to the judge that obtaining such a loan would involve having the bank vet the contractor -- and that would have likely revealed his lack of a license and insurance.
Instead, Ford convinced Lilja to take out a home equity line on the home, sending a friend of his who worked at a local bank to help her fill out the loan application, Buccheri wrote in an affidavit.
As the months went by and construction seemed to come to a halt, Ford offered "every excuse in the book," said Mallard, telling Lilja that his wife was sick or that he was sick.
Another customer, from Hudson, was told that Ford's wife had died.
Ford does business under several names, including
But he was using the names of other, licensed contractors to obtain building permits, investigators learned.
In fact, when Lilja asked about a delay in obtaining a permit and called
Later, months into the project, she learned that Ford had failed to determine that the project would require a zoning variance.
The family would also discover that Ford had charged them
And he'd ripped out the interior walls of the home, something that they'd never expected. He told them he had to hire a contractor to remove asbestos tiles. They later learned that the company he claimed to have hired hadn't been hired. Bags of asbestos were found in the basement and in a Dumpster.
The last straw came around Easter, when Ford told Lilja and her daughter that the sills on the house were rotted and that they would need to pay him an additional
Mallard told the judge that investigators have also learned that Ford and his wife owe approximately
They also learned that he claimed to have been injured while working for his brother's demolition company. He claimed a salary of
At the
But since Ford has made himself "essentially judgment proof," and has no insurance coverage of his own, said Mallard, homeowners like Lilja could be out of luck in a civil court.
Mallard called Ford "a smooth operator," who "operates as if the laws don't apply to him."
And his crimes, said the prosecutor, present a "clear and present public safety threat," due to the fact that he's left several homes, including Lilja's, so structurally unsound that they'll likely have to be demolished.
Lilja said she can barely stand to look at her home.
"It's embarrassing," said Lilja. "It's humiliating."
Her son-in-law described how neighbors in the close-knit cul de sac just shake their heads and throw up their hands at the eyesore now sitting where Lilja's once-tidy little ranch sat.
"It's heartbreaking," said her daughter, Kaarin.
"I miss my independence more than anything," said Lilja.
"Investigating this type of fraud, which is often mistaken for a civil matter, requires a tremendous amount of hard work and diligence," District Attorney
"It is an unfortunate reality that senior citizens are often targeted by these predators,"
Mallard told the judge he expects to seek an indictment against Ford within the next several weeks.
Courts reporter
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