Katie Motz recalls walking through a Plain Township home she was buying and envisioning the needed renovations. Joined by her husband, the 36-year-old toured the house with Choice One Contractors, explaining the massive improvement plan and asking the Canton location business people whether they may take care of the work. Shannon M. Dishong, forty-three, of Canton, and Daniel M. Neil, 42, of Canton, confident the couple they had been as much as the project. The enterprise had already efficiently completed minor paintings on a Massillon home Motz and her husband had offered. But Motz’s initial enthusiasm becomes a nightmarish ordeal. She was one of the sufferers who appeared in Stark County Common Pleas Court this week to observe Dishong get sentenced to 5 years. Neil was convicted in advance to 12 months to 4 years in prison.
Both men pleaded guilty to 4 counts of grand theft and two theft counts. The prices are fourth- and 5th-degree felonies. Their sufferers were Louisville, Perry Township, Lawrence Township, and Canton, Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Kristen Mlinar. A restitution of roughly $63,000 has been ordered together for the co-defendants. Amounts paid by the sufferers to Choice One ranged from $2,300 to $18,000. Mlinar stated Dishong and Neil collectively ripped off the owners. Full bills, partial payments, and deposits had been made, but paintings weren’t even begun; however, one of the cases. And while carpentry paintings became completed at the Motzes’ home, they became botched and triggered more problems than if they hadn’t been finished at all, the assistant prosecutor said. “People suppose because it includes money, it’s civil,” Mlinar said.
“It’s no longer a civil matter when anyone takes your money by lying and misrepresenting you. It’s a criminal offense; it’s theft.” “I suppose everybody is aware that this may appear, but studies, research, studies who you have got in your home and who you pay your money to,” she stated. “You want to analyze as an awful lot as you can.” The assistant prosecutor recommended asking a contractor for references. Motz recommends doing a heritage test. “Do your studies,” she said. “I desire I would have executed that. I desire I might have Googled their names. I wish I could have put them through the [Stark County Criminal Justice Information System].” Motz said that seeking out patron reviews online is another alternative, although many don’t exist. “Sometimes the absence of information can be simply as alarming,”
she added. Mlinar stated Choice One’s office “wasn’t real,” noting that the hire hadn’t been paid. An eviction observes changed into published on the workplace website, she said. “The whole issue became like a rip-off,” Mlinar stated. The assistant prosecutor stated that a billboard and a woman who responded to cellphone calls on behalf of Choice One made the commercial enterprise appear credible. Motz said she became worried through the terrible labor satisfaction at her Plain Township home. She stated that nails were strewn on the ground, and others had been sticking from floorboards. Trash changed into left in the back, and the mission was never finished. A red flag got here when the enterprise stopped speaking with Motz. They additionally gave excuses for numerous delays, she said, including that Dishong and Neil refused to provide a partial refund.
