SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) – The owner of Jamestown Kitchens has been arrested by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and charged with scheme to defraud.
James Gerard, 49, was the subject of a Better Call Behnken investigation after more than a dozen customers complained that they paid tens of thousands of dollars for work that wasn’t completed.
The sheriff’s office tells Investigative Reporter Shannon Behnken that detectives launched an investigation in December after receiving a report from a Sarasota resident who gave Jamestown Kitchens a deposit of $17,000 in March 2019 to remodel two bathrooms in her condo.
The victim, according to detectives, met with a representative of the company in October and in December 2019, reported no work had been completed. As detectives began to launch their investigation, they identified 11 additional victims in Sarasota County who paid Jamestown Kitchens an estimated $232,250 in total and never received services from the company.
Gerard remains in custody Thursday on $20,000 bond. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are pending.
Anyone with information related to Jamestown Kitchens or JLG Kitchen Planning and Design, LLC, is asked to contact the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Section at (941) 861-4900.
LATEST BETTER CALL BEHNKEN HEADLINES:
