Richard Allen Smith, of New Jersey.
Richard Allen Smith allegedly took a $7,000 down payment for renovations and never performed the services or refunded the money.
A New Jersey contractor is wanted on an active warrant by Warrington Township Police on felony home improvement fraud and theft charges.
Richard Allen Smith, 54, of the unit block of Waterworks Road, Salem, NJ, was charged Oct. 14 for alleged offenses that occurred Sept. 23 on the 800 block of Princeton Drive in the township, according to charging documents.
A warrant was issued Oct. 15 for Smith’s arrest, authorities said.
On Sept. 23, at 4:08 p.m., police responded to the lobby of Warrington Township Police headquarters to speak to a resident alleging home improvement fraud, per the complaint.
The victim told police that he hired Smith, who runs Buildrite Construction LLC, to renovate his bathroom at his home, at an agreed-upon estimate of $8,688, police said.
The job was scheduled to begin Aug. 2, as signed in a digital document, police allege.
The victim had given Smith $7,601 cash as a down payment, police said.
According to the affidavit, Smith allegedly showed up for the first two days of work and worked about two hours at the home. After that time, police said only the demolition of the bathroom was completed.
After the second day, Smith allegedly stopped showing up without communication to the client, police allege.
The victim reached out to Smith multiple times, and he responded each time with different excuses as to why he could not show up for the work, police said.
On Aug. 12, the victim texted Smith and both agreed that Smith would discontinue the job, and he would provide a full refund of the down payment, per the affidavit.
Police said the victim still has not received the refund, and Smith allegedly has provided excuses as to why he has not refunded the money.
Police said Smith has prior charges and cases of a similar matter, consisting of allegations that Smith received down payments for contracting jobs in New Jersey, provided little to no service and then proceeds to fail to return the money.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
