Delaware Contractor Arrested For Allegedly Defrauding Homeowner Of $200K+

The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) reports:

• A 48-year-old Delaware City man has been arrested for allegedly bilking a Middletown homeowner out of more than $200,000 for contracting repairs to her fire-ravaged home, state police said today. Paul Zugehoer, of Clinton Street, was charged last week with felony home improvement fraud and felony issuing a bad check over $1,000. Zugehoer, who was identified as a self-employed insured general contractor for Absolute Equity, was released on $3,000 unsecured bail and ordered to have no further contact with the 48-year-old woman who hired him to do the work.

After paying $226,000 when given an itemized list of expenditures for over $228,000, the victim sought out two independent contractors to appraise the work completed. The first independent contractor estimated that only 20 percent of the work had been completed. The second contractor estimated the value of the 20-25 percent of work completed by Zugehoer as between $100,000 to $125,000. At that point, she contacted state police. For more, see Del. City man charged in home improvement fraud.

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