A local contractor has been jailed on accusations of home repair fraud. 44-year-old Clint A. Stevens of the 1800 block of Mound Road was booked into the Morgan County Jail Monday afternoon for one count of Home Repair Fraud, a Class 4 Felony.
Stevens was arraigned in Morgan County Court this morning after Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll presented evidence of several reports that Stevens had defrauded a homeowner over contracted home repairs.
A profile on the Better Business Bureau’s website says that Steven’s business, C & A Construction, which has been in business for the past 13 years in the Jacksonville area, has had at least 6 complaints filed against his business since the BBB began an investigation in September 2019. The complaints filed with the BBB begin in October 2019, with alleged defrauded amounts ranging between $1,700-$12,800 on 6 separate incidents. One of the incidents asked for a repair of a roof on a machine shed. According to a list from the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation’s Division of Regulation of Roofing Contractors, C & A Construction is not listed as a licensed roofing contractor in the State of Illinois.
The complaints allege consumers hired C & A Construction and that they provided a down payment to conduct services. According to the complaints, services were partially finished or not started at all. Three of these complaints have been closed as unresolved by the Better Business Bureau. The Better Business Bureau claims that they reached out to C & A several times over the past 2 years requesting a resolution in addition to contacting the complainants to see if the issue had been resolved. According to the BBB, the complaints remained unresolved as of February 23rd.
According to Morgan County Court records, Stevens also has 4 active cases in small claims court with customers and a few area businesses. Stevens was due in court for litigation on one of the open cases on April 21st.
Stevens’ bond was set at $5,000. He currently remains lodged at the Morgan County Jail. Home repair fraud is a Class 4 felony that carries a prison sentence of 1-3 years and up to a $25,000 fine if convicted.