Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney Blog
A pair of brothers have been arrested on out of county warrants for defrauding customers. According to an article on news4jax.com, the two men owned a roofing company that has received complaints from customers for some time. Currently, they are facing criminal fraud charges in Volusia County, but more charges may come. The men are accused of taking money for roof repairs, mostly from hurricane damage, and not returning to complete the jobs. Other counties involved are St. Johns, Flagler, Duval, Clay and Nassau. I would expect the men to be arrested on warrants from several, if not all of the other counties where alleged victims live. In the three counties of St. Johns, Volusia and Flagler, the estimated loss to potential victims is over $455,000.00.
The crime the brothers have been arrested for is Organized Scheme to Defraud in Florida. A “scheme to defraud” is defined as a systematic and ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud a person or persons or intent to get property from a person or persons by false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises of a future act. If the value of the property, or money in this case, is $50,000.00 or more, the crime is considered a first degree felony in Florida. For each of these charges, the men are looking at a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The men will probably not get decades in prison because one of the factors the State Attorney’s Office considers is their ability to provide restitution to the alleged victims. Restitution is re-payment of money taken. It is obvious from the report that the restitution amount will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is not clear whether or not these brothers have the ability to pay back all of it, but they may be able to pay some. Often times in Fraud cases in Jacksonville, any jail or prison term is followed by years of probation. The main condition of fraud probations in Duval County of the payment of restitution to make the victims whole.
Another consideration will be multiple charges in multiple counties. As an Experienced Fraud Attorney in Jacksonville, I have represented may clients with charges in more than one jurisdiction. If the client wants to negotiate a disposition on all cases, the goal is to get the cases to run together, or concurrently. All aspects of a potential sentence can be discussed and negotiated before a case is resolved.
If you or a loved one needs a criminal defense attorney in Jacksonville or the surrounding area, call The Mussallem Law Firm at (904) 365-5200 for a FREE CONSULTATION. Our Jacksonville Sex Crime Lawyer, Victoria “Tori” Mussallem, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.