Shady Shutter Contractor Clips Customers' Cash Without Doing Any Work, Say Cops; Suspect Faces 165+ Complaints

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, WPLG-TV Channel 10 reports:

• A Broward man is accused of taking thousands of dollars from his customers to install hurricane shutters and never doing the work, police said. Michael Johnson, 50, was arrested Wednesday on seven counts of theft and one count of organized fraud. Over the past two years, Broward Sheriff's investigators say, Johnson's company, Shutter Screen and Supply Inc., collected more than $11,000 in deposits from customers and never installed the hurricane shutters or screen enclosures customers were promised.

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• So far, only seven victims have been identified and are working with detectives on the investigation, but they say the county has had more than 165 similar complaints against Shutter Screen and Supply. "In so many of these cases, as in the case of Mr. Johnson, it continues for such a long time that it pyramids out of control and we never make all of the victims whole again," said Detective Danny Belyeu of the Broward Sheriff's Economic Crimes Unit.

For those interested in chipping in, Johnson's bail bond is set at $400K. For more, see Shady Shutter Deals Lead To Man's Arrest (Complaints To County About Company Prompt Investigation) (read story) (watch video).

Go here for more on the Broward Sheriff's Office "contractor cops."

Go here for the Broward Sheriff Office's Contractor Licensing and Fraud Unit, and go here for Florida's construction lien laws (sections 713.001 - 713.37).