The South Florida owners of a swimming pool company have been charged with swindling homeowners out of almost $2 million, as well as failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance and insurance application fraud.
Florida law enforcement officers this week arrested Chrystal Washburn and Brian Washburn, owners of Amore Pools. Investigators said the couple took large deposits from more than 100 homeowners on in-ground pools, then never completed or, in some cases, never started the work, according to local news reports.
The Washburns allegedly used a third-party check-cashing site to convert the homeowners’ checks to cash in an attempt to conceal the transactions. The couple also have been accused of forging signatures on permits and other documents, filing false information on insurance applications and under-reporting payroll to avoid workers’ comp premiums.
“This was a sham company that had one goal in mind. That was scamming victims,” St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Topics Florida Fraud Homeowners
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