Contractors State License Board Goes Undercover to Sting Phony Contractors in Amador County
Operation illustrates dangers to consumers who hire contractors who aren't licensed
Sacramento – Illegal operators who showed up at a sting house in Jackson this week were swept up by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) and arrested for contracting without a license. Members of the CSLB's Statewide Investigative Fraud Team (SWIFT) posed as homeowners and invited suspected phony contractors to a duplex to bid on various home improvement projects, including landscaping, painting, concrete work and fencing. The enforcement action was conducted on Wednesday, May 30 in cooperation with the Amador County District Attorney's Office and investigators from the California Department of Insurance, Fraud Division and the Jackson Police Department.
During the undercover sting, 11 of the phony contractors were given a "Notices to Appear" (NTA) before an Amador County Superior Court judge in late June to face misdemeanor charges of contracting without a license, as well as advertising violations. The charges carry a maximum of six months in jail or a $1,000 fine for the first offense. A second violation carries a mandatory 90-day jail sentence. Three of the operators were taken to jail, one for attempting to use a licensed contractor's number. The other two did not have any valid identification. Two operators were given a non-licensee citation. A licensed contractor will receive a citation for aiding and abetting unlicensed activity.
By law, all contractors who perform work that totals $500 or more (labor and materials) must be licensed by the CSLB. "Unlicensed operators often have a lot of other legal problems," said CSLB Registrar Steve Sands. "Homeowners may think they are saving money by hiring someone who is unlicensed. But you never know what kind of individuals you are inviting into your home and what their real motives are. You also don't know if they even know how to do the job."
For the rest of the article please visit, www.cslb.ca.gov.
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