Mt. Pleasant area contractor charged with taking $12K down payment for work never done
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A Mt. Pleasant area contractor was charged this week after state police say he took a $12,000 down payment from a local dentist for a building repair project, but never did any work.
Timothy Jay King, 34, was charged Tuesday with deceptive business practices, home improvement fraud, theft and theft by deception. He was released on signature bond pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 2.
Trooper Craig Spisak alleges that, on Jan. 6, King accepted a $12,000 down payment from Mt. Pleasant dentist Jeffrey McCloy to complete masonry work on McCloy’s office at 101 West Main St.
McCloy told state police investigators the work was to start the next day, but King never showed up and refused repeated attempts give back the down payment. Spisak reported the masonry work included bricking 29 second-story windows of the building, repairing two chimneys, repointing the rear exterior and sealing a back corner of the building.
According to court documents, McCloy said King initially agreed to return the down payment, but later accused McCloy of breaking a contracting agreement and refused to return the money.
Spisak said when he contacted King last summer about the alleged theft, he refused to speak with him and directed him to his attorney, Thomas Shaffer of Uniontown.
According to court documents, Shaffer provided Spisak in September with notarized statements from King that he had ordered brick and mortar material from Anchor Block in Mt. Pleasant for the job, but McCloy refused the delivery. King claimed in his notarized statement that he also purchased multiple tools, scaffolding and an insurance contract to do the work, according to court documents.
“King did not provide any receipts for the purchases of mortar, sand or any tools,” Spisak said.
Last month, Spisak met with Anchor Block officials who reported King had purchased materials in 2019, but made no purchases this year. Court documents said Anchor officials also said they made no deliveries to McCloy’s property.
On Wednesday, Shaffer said King will plead not guilty and fight the criminal charges. He maintains King lost money because of advance investments he made to complete the $28,000 project.
“Mr. McCloy entered into an agreement with Mr. King and then refused delivery of the materials, according to my client’s notarized statement. In my three decades of experience in these type of legal actions concerning contract agreements, they usually take place in civil court and are not criminal matters,” Shaffer said.
Court records do not show any prior contracting related complaints filed against King, but in 2016 he was sentenced to serve 66 days to 23 months after pleading guilty to fleeing and eluding, possession of drug paraphernalia and use of drug paraphernalia. According to court records in August 2016, King was at a home in Hempfield with three others when county sheriff’s deputies arrived to serve a warrant on one of the occupants.
Deputies found 90 stamp bags of heroin in the toilet. King told deputies he was attempting to flush the items before he ran from the house, according to police reports.