Dubious Contractor w/ History Of Screwing Over Public Gets Bagged Again, Faces Multiple Felony Charges For Allegedly Pocketing $149K+ In Payments For Home Improvement Projects He Never Completed

From the Office of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania District Attorney:

• A Bucks County contractor operating with fraudulently obtained licenses and insurance cheated five sets of homeowners out of tens of thousands of dollars since 2011, county detectives allege.
  
  Marc Haworth, 41, of the 100 block of Canterbury Drive in Fairless Hills, surrendered Thursday [January 19] on charges of home improvement fraud, deceptive business practices, theft by deception and insurance fraud. All of the charges are second-degree or third-degree felonies except for insurance fraud, which is a first-degree misdemeanor.
  
  Haworth was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Jan Vislosky and released on $250,000 unsecured bail. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Vislosky on Jan. 31.
  
  According to a probable cause affidavit, Haworth is accused of defrauding the owners of five homes in Churchville, Langhorne, Wrightstown and Levittown by accepting more than $149,000 in payments for home improvement projects that he never completed.
  
  The affidavit says that the homeowners have had to pay additional contractors close to $20,000 or more to complete the work. The projects included swimming pool construction and upgrades, garage remodeling, and roofing and paving work.
  
  The charges resulted from a three-month investigation by Bucks County Detectives Eric Landamia and David Coyne.
  
  Haworth is the owner of Pool & Patio Specialist, LLC, and former owner, with his wife, of three additional firms.
  
  While Haworth’s active companies were insured and registered as required by the Pennsylvania Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, the charges allege that he obtained those credentials fraudulently.
  
  In registering the businesses, the detectives alleged, the Haworths lied by saying that they had not filed for bankruptcy or had any civil judgments entered against themselves or their companies. In fact, they had multiple judgments dating to 2004 in Bucks County and had filed jointly for bankruptcy three times, the affidavit said.
  
  In addition, Marc Haworth lied in his registration application by saying he had no history of fraudulent business practices, fraud, theft and/or deception, the charges allege. In fact, he pleaded guilty in 2005 to charges of deceptive business practices, theft by deception, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property, the affidavit said.
  
  Haworth also is accused of lying to Erie Insurance in order to obtain business insurance coverage in 2015. On his application to Erie, Haworth indicated that he had filed no insurance claims in the prior five years, that he never had been arrested and that he never had been cancelled or refused service by any carrier.
  
  In doing so, Haworth failed to disclose arrests in 2003 and 2015, a loss claim filed in 2012, and a policy cancellation for failure to make required payments in December 2014, the affidavit said.
  
  The case has been assigned to Deputy District Attorney Alan J. Garabedian for prosecution. Anyone with information about other questionable activities involving Haworth is asked to contact Detective David Coyne at 215-348-6333 or Detective Eric Landamia at 215-348-6358.

Source: Bucks Contractor Charged with Defrauding Multiple Homeowners.