It happens sometimes that folks get into a situation where they make an agreement with another person to do some work for them, and events occur which neither party anticipated and the work is not done or is not done satisfactorily. The person who is unsatisfied then want criminal charges against the person who did the work. The charges they seek are in the nature of fraud or some form of stealing. Most often I have to decline any charges because there is a lack of evidence of the intent of one to defraud the other.

What they really have is a civil dispute. There was usually some work done or a partial payment was given for some of the work. There are arguments that can be made on both sides too value of that work, but usually the work done on the project was substantial, because the problem usually does not surface immediately but is not discovered till later on in the project.

There are can be disputes over quality of the work. It may be true that the workmanship is poor, but there is usually no evidence available that the shoddy work was done intentionally. There is usually no police involvement or reports generated at the time the problem first came to the surface or at the beginning of the dispute.

The requests for criminal prosecution sometimes comes after an unsuccessful or uncompleted. One party has sued and before the suit is over, the injured person has figured out that for one reason or another, the suit will not be productive. So they seek another avenue of satisfaction.

When I decline to file criminal charges because the matter is civil in nature, people sometimes get angry and because they do not understand, or do not want to understand why the Prosecutors office is not helping them get the situation addressed. It doesn’t matter whether they are angry or not, this office will not pursue prosecution when the case is civil in nature, nor will this office refer this matter to another county for consideration.

When you hire someone, be careful whom you hire. Make sure they are licensed and bonded. The bond will help if there is a problem on the project.
Stay on the job to address problems quickly. Document the development of the problem. Talk to another person who does that kind of work. Be aware that if the price is low, you will likely get what you pay for.