13 unlicensed contractors accused of targeting local fire victims

The unlicensed contractors attempted to bid on rebuilding jobs in the burn zone, investigators say.|

More than a dozen unlicensed contractors face potential criminal charges stemming from what local and state authorities said were attempts to defraud Santa Rosa residents looking to rebuild homes destroyed in October’s wildfires.

In all, 13 unlicensed contractors, all men, were caught up in a sting conducted Jan. 27 at a burned out home in Santa Rosa, where undercover state investigators posed as fire victims looking to rebuild their home, the Contractors State License Board said in a news release Friday.

The ten suspects who showed up to the site and offered bids were detained by CSLB investigators and released from custody while the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office considers the evidence and decides whether to advance charges, said Rick Lopes, CSLB’s chief of public affairs. The three others cited in the sting did not show up to the house.

“I remember saying months ago when there was still debris in this area that I’m standing in now, ‘If you come here, if you violate the law, I’m going to prosecute you,’ and I’ve been true to that word” District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a Coffey Park news conference. “Not only have we gone after price gougers, but now we’re going after unlicensed contractors.”

The sting started when investigators responded to ads posted on Craigslist offering services for framing, carpentry, electrical work and plumbing specifically for fire victims. Investigators invited workers to the home, where they then bid on jobs, the contractors board said.

For the framing job, the submitted bids ranged from $850 to $13,000; for plumbing, bids ranged from $1,500 to $4,500; and for the electrical work, a bid came in at $2,100, the CSLB said.

Home improvement jobs totaling $500 or more must be completed by a contractor certified by the state. The CSLB has received a number of complaints about other unlicensed contractors working in the burn zones, Lopes said, and is conducting weekly sting operations to prevent that.

“These people are coming in, trying to undercut and underbid the legitimate licensed contractors,” Lopes said. “They’re taking away the work from them, and it’s not a level playing field.”

That makes it difficult for licensed contractors to compete for work, said Keith Woods, CEO of the North Coast Builders Exchange, an association that advocates for licensed contractors in Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake and Napa counties.

“This is a very common, but sad byproduct of a major disaster,” he said. “It attracts the unscrupulous, whether it’s the people that have been stealing metal and rebar and stuff, or people trying to scam homeowners. It’s a problem when there’s something like this.”

Those cited for felony contracting without a license in a disaster zone were identified by authorities as: Edgar Rogelio Menrano Aparicio, of Rohnert Park; Adam Daniel Kime, of Fairfield; Charles Joseph Messana, of Windsor; Gerardo Daniel Contreas Medina, of Santa Rosa; Sergey Nosach, of Redwood City; Michael Allen Regan, of Santa Rosa; Jeffrey Edward Reno, of Napa; Kyle Jerry Rexford, of Santa Rosa; Robert Dale Wisterman, of Santa Rosa and Dan Ybarra, of Santa Rosa. If convicted, they could face up to 3 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. ?Cited for failure to include their license number in an advertisement, a misdemeanor, were: Ted Lawrence Brooks, of Santa Rosa; Jason Torres, of Rohnert Park and Christian Robert Wolf, of Sebastopol.

Reports of unlicensed workers attempting to defraud fire victims or perform shoddy work for low pay is of great concern within the building community, Woods said.

“Without a license, they don’t have to prove that they’re paying workers’ comp, that they’re properly insured, that they have the bonding,” Woods said. “If you’re competing against somebody who’s not following the rules, they can submit significantly lower bids. ... That’s the biggest problem for the industry

“The problem of the homeowners or the victims is the work is not going to be probably of a high quality, and there are so many cases of unscrupulous contractors taking down payments that they’re not allowed to take and heading for the hills.”

Since October’s fires, membership within the North Coast Builders Exchange has spiked as more workers seek to become licensed and renew expired licenses to take part in post-fire projects, Woods said.

CSLB’s website offers tools to help fire victims find licensed contractors in their area and check whether a worker is licensed. Visit cslb.ca.gov for more information.

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