I have information regarding a contractor that is committing fraud. He pays his employees cash, and upon checking his license status, I see that he does not have employees listed, but does have state compensation insurance, and a bond.
He had defrauded many homeowners with shoddy workmanship, recently charged the City of Norwalk for repairing a roof for a homeowner (amount was $3,000) and made employees buy cheaper material, when the contract specified a high quality roofing material. The new homeowner asked the roofer's employees about the material, wanting to be sure the material was Benchmark, (which was specified in the written contract) but the Roofing Company owner (Carl Preston Smith) had made the employees subsitute four buckets of APOC rather than Benchmark, and told the employees to dump the APOC into empty Benchmark buckets at the contractor's yard. The employee told me that Benchmark is tinted blue, and APOC is white, and when customer asked three times whether they were using Benchmark, they just pointed at the Benchmark bucket and remained mute, because they didn't know what to say. They can't speak english anyway, but they understand it.
One jobsite was at Gamay Ct.in Alta Loma California, (I believe) and another customer was Jose De La Raz in Norwalk, CA. The City of Norwalk paid the bill. Another fraudulent job was the contractor was hired to repair a tile roof that he had originally done. When the homeowner called him to complain about some tiles that had moved, Carl sent a crew out, and charged the homeowner $1,400. He justified the repair by calling it wind damage, rather than something that was his company's fault. The entire time spent at the job site by the roofing employees was 10 minutes, which included the time spent to unload a ladder to climb on the roof and reset the two tiles that had moved. The contractor told the employees the following day to meet him at the same jobsite at a specified time, and be on the roof looking busy because he was meeting the homeowner there to get paid. The contractor told homeowner that the repairs were caused by wind, not the original roofing job that he had contracted, and that the wind caused damage to four areas of the roof, hence the $1,400 charge.
This contractor is also listed on consumer complaintss by another customer that was very unhappy with the job he did on her mobile home. If you run a Google search on him, you'll find the site. From what I know, he has been practicing deceptive business practices for many years, and paying cash to his employees, many of which don't even speak English.
His wife, Nancy Smith, is a travelling Notary, and as far as I have heard, she is nice.in the past they have done home inspections, and have many connections in the business community. He was named as Executor of the DAVID ZANE WALKER estate, in San Bernardino probate court, and has told people that he is the beneficiary of the deceased estate. Neighbors near this property have said that Carl has promised five different people the scrap metal that litters the property, and they aren't happy with the man. This court document can be found by checking Google, using the name Carl Preston Smith in quote marks.
My interest in this case is due to the blatant way this man is ripping off people. He portrays himself as a good Christian man, goes to church (one of his relatives is the minister of New Life Christian church, and his name is Larry Ross). He has told his employees that he is a reserve police officer with the San Bernardino Sheriff's Dept, and has an ID card to prove it. He says he has an in with judges, attorneys, etc. The employee that relayed this information to me is scared of the man, because of his connections. I am not as gullible and told the employee that I was going to check the man out. The employee is trying to survive by doing honest work, but is sickened by what is happening.
The employees are being shorted on their pay and don't have any recourse due to the fact that they are paid cash. The employees the man hires are usually parolees that are afraid to complain to authorities, due to the man's connections with law enforcement. He states he is a former Lion's Club President of the Wrightwood Lion's Club, but when I checked their site, I didn't see him listed. I did see that he is involved with the VFW.
I am sending this info to the Contractors State License Board and also to the City of Norwalk. We are an honest family, and don't like to see someone like this man ripping people off and using people that are trying to do better.in essence, he has made people incriminate themselves by requiring them to go along with his fraudulent business practices.
When I was given this information, I made notes, and after some soul searching, I decided to contact you. The contractor's license number for this man is 419903. His business address is:
BENCHMARK ROOFING CO
325 N 2ND AVE SUITE J
UPLAND, CA 91786
Business Phone Number: (909) 946-3711
Name: Carl Preston Smith
Please use discretion if you investigate this man, and please don't mention my name or the fact that his employees are involved in this tip. They aren't involved, other than telling me how much this man's business practices bother them. I took it upon myself to write to the above mentioned agencies. Carl Preston Smith lives in Wrightwood, California.
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