A Romeoville man has been arrested after allegedly accepting money for multiple home repair jobs in Naperville and not completing the work, according to a news release from the Naperville Police Department (NPD).
Multiple home repair fraud incidents, authorities say
Salvador Garcia, 34, was arrested on July 7 after a months-long investigation, in which officials say they probed several instances of home repair fraud between November 2022 and May 2023.
Garcia allegedly used the alias “Salvador Fuertes” when collecting down payments for each project. The first time police were tipped off was after a resident said “Fuertes” had kept the down payment for a concrete patio project which he never did any work on. Police noted five additional reports of concrete projects in which “Fuertes” did the same thing.
Police say Garcia, under the “Fuertes” pseudonym, claimed to be a Lucas Landscaping employee. However, he was not authorized to work under the company’s name, nor was Lucas Landscaping aware of this false claim.
Ten charges against Garcia
Charges against Garcia include:
- Two counts of continuing financial crimes enterprise, a class 1 felony
- One count of theft, a class 2 felony
- Three counts of theft, a class 3 felony
- Four counts of home repair fraud, a class 4 felony
The NPD asks any residents who had dealings with Garcia when he allegedly went by the name “Salvador Fuertes” to contact the department’s Investigations Division at (630) 420-6665. Police say the phone number used for the scam jobs was (331) 425-9288.
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