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Pocono News Section
I-Team Update: State Wants Contractor Out Of Business
I-Team Update: State Wants Contractor Out Of Business - Wednesday, October 17, 2007 at 6:22PM EST
Reported by: Jeff Chirico
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007 @06:22pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY –There’s an update on an I-Team investigation WBRE News first brought you in January. The state's top cop is trying to put a Luzerne County contractor out of business for allegedly ripping off customers. Those victims include elderly people and a church.
The State Attorney General's office has been dealing with Joseph Burns through three decades. Now, they're going to court to force him to pay back his customers and to ban him from working in the contracting business again. Contractor Joseph Burns allegedly ripped off nearly a dozen customers over the past couple years.
Last Winter, the I-Team spoke with several people who paid him thousands of dollars and got shoddy or no work at all. 84- year- old Erma Malo of Clarks Green says paid burns $38,000 to enclose her porch. Malo says "cripes. I'm a nervous wreck. He hasn't finished the job. The ceiling is leaking. Pales around to catch water in the ceiling." Her attorney Alan Jones says "it has devastated her. She's 84. This is part of her savings."
Now the attorney general is taking action --accusing Burns of contempt for violating previous judge's orders that restricted him from working in the home contracting business. J.P. McGowan, of the attorney general’s bureau of consumer protection says “we have received ten consumer complaints over the past couple years involving activities he has engaged in.” The Wilkes-Barre contractor also altered a judge's order --a criminal offense.
McGowan says he'll ask the court to order Burns to pay back his victims and ban him from working in the field again. But Burns has filed for bankruptcy. McGowan says his office is also pursuing charges in that court to force Burns to pay up. McGowan says Burns took a total of $150 thousand from the ten customers listed in court papers.
Burns has a hearing at the Luzerne County Courthouse on November 5, 2007. | | |
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