Wisconsin Contractor To Pay $500K Or Face Stiff Sentence For Stiffing Subs, Leaving Homeowners Holding The Bag

In Wisconsin, the LaCrosse Tribune reports:

• A former Onalaska building contractor whose failure to pay $500,000 to subcontractors left four homeowners stuck with the bills was ordered [last week] to make restitution or face a stiff prison term. La Crosse County Circuit Judge Ramona Gonzalez gave Kasimir M. Oganowski, 36, two years on electronic monitoring and 10 years of probation, along with 100 hours of community service each year.

• But Oganowski will not spend time behind bars, despite calls for prison time by a Department of Corrections agent, the prosecutor and victims. Gonzalez said she would rather see Oganowski repay his victims than live in prison at taxpayers’ expense.

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• Oganowski pleaded guilty in September to two counts of felony theft by contractor. He moved earlier this year to Greenwood, Ind., and will be allowed to serve his electronic monitoring there. He must annually pay at least $20,000 in restitution, Gonzalez said. [...] If he fails, she said, he still can receive up to 20 years in prison and extended supervision. [...] Oganowski admitted in court he took money from one project to cover costs on another, and left the homeowners — who also were his close friends — with unfinished homes and potential foreclosures from unpaid subcontractors.

For more, see Man gets probation in fraud case.

For other posts on contractors accused of stiffing subs & homeowners, go here and go here. contractors stiff subs customers zeta