Lincoln Contractor Pleas "No Contest" On Charges Of Stiffing Homeowners

In Lincoln, Nebraska, the Lincoln Journal Star recently reported:

• A local contractor pleaded no contest ... to felony counts of theft by deception arising from allegations he charged homeowners for work he either failed to do or to complete. Scott A. Davis, 37, could be ordered to serve a maximum of 30 years in prison at his sentencing hearing Dec. 13 in Lancaster County District Court. Davis pleaded no contest to two counts of felony theft by deception and, in a separate case, he admitted to violating the conditions of his probation in an earlier prosecution. As a result of the violation, Davis will also be sentenced on a theft by deception charge arising from the earlier case.

For more, see Contractor pleads no contest to theft.

Editor's Note: At one time not all that long ago, many cops would take the position that, as long as the contractor started the work he/she was hired for before skipping out on a homeowner, such a circumstance was only a civil matter, not a criminal matter, and would refuse to even take a complaint. More recently, however, it appears that it is becoming more common for police agencies to use a criminal charge of theft by deception to prosecute cases - even where work was actually commenced by the contractor but not completed.