Another unlicensed contractor has been accused of taking thousands of dollars from Baxter County customers and either doing no work or slipshod work.
Four criminal cases against 48-year-old Robert Shane Daniel of Mountain Home have been opened. He appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court last Monday and pled not guilty to his charges.
The charges against Daniel, who did business under the name Ozark Home Pro, include theft of property, obtaining a signature by deception and acting as a residential contractor without a license.
A number of complaints were made to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office and the Mountain Home Police Department by customers who allege they were ripped off by Daniel.
The complaints filed with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office alone allege that customers lost more than $102,000. One customer was reported to have been talked into investing $25,000 in Daniel’s company.
In most cases, Daniel would take money up front for material and labor. The material was never delivered and the work was never done. Investigators report that Daniel gave the same false excuses to customers when they contacted him about their projects.
In investigating complaints against Daniel /d/b/a Ozarks Home Pro, it was discovered he had never been a licensed contractor in Arkansas.
According to probable cause affidavits filed in the cases, Daniel was found to be on active felony probation from the state of Georgia and being supervised by the Mountain Home probation and parole office under the Interstate Compact.
In 2002, Daniel was charged with theft for taking slightly more than $19,000 from an 87-year-old woman for three projects. None of the projects was ever started. The criminal case was dropped after Daniel paid victim restitution in full.
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