Fort Wayne Man Sentenced In Home Improvement Fraud Cases
December 24, 2019 at 12:41 a.m.
By Amanda [email protected]
Jeremiah Donald Lowe, 36, Fort Wayne, appeared in front of Kosciusko Superior Court III Judge Joe Sutton Monday for sentencing in four separate cases as part of a plea agreement.
Lowe was given 2-1/2 years in the Kosciusko County Jail, all suspended to formal probation, for a Level 6 felony home improvement conviction in the first case. His victim in that case was owed $500 in restitution after Lowe took the man’s money but never put up new gutters as planned.
The fourth case was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, so the restitution in the amount of $7,625 was moved to the first case to be paid back to the victim in the dismissed case.
Lowe also received 2-1/2 years in KCJ for a Level 6 felony theft conviction, all executed, and 2-1/2 years in KCJ, all suspended to formal probation, for a Level 6 felony theft conviction in another case. The restitution owed in that case is $5,628 for the first victim, and $43,870 for the second victim. His first victim was to have a new roof installed by Lowe. His second victim was to have had new cabinets, flooring and countertops installed by Lowe.
Lowe also received 2-1/2 years in KCJ, with one year executed and 1-1/2 years suspended to formal probation for a Level 6 felony theft conviction. His victim in that case is owed $6,220 after Lowe wrote a bad check to the man.
Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Hampton said he wants to impress upon Lowe that he cannot conduct himself in this way, but also he wants Lowe to have a way to pay the victims back.
Lowe’s attorney, Doug Lemon, told Sutton that his client was not someone who set out to hurt people, but that his client instead had been running his business – J. Lowe Contracting Inc. – for some time and completing jobs with happy customers. But then, Lemon said, Lowe started to get behind in the work, then he started making mistakes, and soon enough it went beyond making mistakes, Lowe was now mistreating people who didn’t deserve it.
“His accountability and responsibility is sincere,” Lemon said.
Lemon asked the judge for work release so Lowe could start paying his victims, but then said his client has two pending home improvement fraud cases in Kosciusko County, along with pending cases for the same charges in Wells, Noble, Dekalb and Marshall counties, and possibly one case in Ohio.
“A huge part of what’s caused the wheels to come off is incarceration,”?Lemon said. “That’s resulted in more charges being filed.”
Lemon said there are mitigating factors that Sutton should take into consideration when fashioning his sentence, such as incarceration would cause undue hardship to Lowe’s four dependant children, Lowe is likely to respond well to short-term imprisonment or probation, he has learned hard lessons and has taken responsibility and is remorseful and that he doesn’t believe the crime is likely to reoccur.
Lemon said Lowe’s direction in life when this is all over probably won’t be going back into the contractor’s life of “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Sutton asked Lemon how he’s supposed to sentence Lowe so the victims can get paid back when Lowe has all of these open cases?
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” Sutton said. “The restitution is $63,843 in these cases. That’s a lot of money to pay off.”
Lowe told Sutton, “The whole reason why the company was started was to keep this from happening. I’ve worked for companies that did this. I will make it right. My four children depend on me. It’s Christmastime, and it hurts me that my damage has hurt these victims.”
Lowe then told the judge in his past he has worked for a company where he closed $3.2 million in business deals and pulled in $281,000 in commission.
“When I get out, I’ll make this right. I can do this by working my tail off, to correct this as quick as possible,” Lowe said.
Sutton said he’ll agree with Lemon’s mitigating factors in the case, except the one that the crime is not likely to reoccur.
“I don’t know, that’s not a mitigator,”?Sutton said. “This is a trail of destruction.”
Sutton said that there have also been civil suits filed against Lowe alleging the same crimes, so his pending criminal cases aren’t exactly what meets the eye.
“I’m counting on the fact of your heart being in the right place. It all falls on you,” Sutton told him.
The aggravating factors Sutton accounted for was Lowe’s criminal history, that Lowe violated his pretrial release, and that one of Lowe’s victims wanted a new roof on his home before he died. That man died and he never got the roof put on. Sutton said he is going to call that “taking advantage of a terminally ill man.”
Two $1,500 cash bonds were released and distributed among the victims. One victim of Lowe’s appeared in court – the man owed $500 – and was given the $500 owed from part of Lowe’s bonds.
Lowe’s sentences in each case are to run consecutively with the others.
Lowe will be back in court at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to enter guilty pleas in his two other local criminal cases.
Jeremiah Donald Lowe, 36, Fort Wayne, appeared in front of Kosciusko Superior Court III Judge Joe Sutton Monday for sentencing in four separate cases as part of a plea agreement.
Lowe was given 2-1/2 years in the Kosciusko County Jail, all suspended to formal probation, for a Level 6 felony home improvement conviction in the first case. His victim in that case was owed $500 in restitution after Lowe took the man’s money but never put up new gutters as planned.
The fourth case was dismissed as part of the plea agreement, so the restitution in the amount of $7,625 was moved to the first case to be paid back to the victim in the dismissed case.
Lowe also received 2-1/2 years in KCJ for a Level 6 felony theft conviction, all executed, and 2-1/2 years in KCJ, all suspended to formal probation, for a Level 6 felony theft conviction in another case. The restitution owed in that case is $5,628 for the first victim, and $43,870 for the second victim. His first victim was to have a new roof installed by Lowe. His second victim was to have had new cabinets, flooring and countertops installed by Lowe.
Lowe also received 2-1/2 years in KCJ, with one year executed and 1-1/2 years suspended to formal probation for a Level 6 felony theft conviction. His victim in that case is owed $6,220 after Lowe wrote a bad check to the man.
Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Hampton said he wants to impress upon Lowe that he cannot conduct himself in this way, but also he wants Lowe to have a way to pay the victims back.
Lowe’s attorney, Doug Lemon, told Sutton that his client was not someone who set out to hurt people, but that his client instead had been running his business – J. Lowe Contracting Inc. – for some time and completing jobs with happy customers. But then, Lemon said, Lowe started to get behind in the work, then he started making mistakes, and soon enough it went beyond making mistakes, Lowe was now mistreating people who didn’t deserve it.
“His accountability and responsibility is sincere,” Lemon said.
Lemon asked the judge for work release so Lowe could start paying his victims, but then said his client has two pending home improvement fraud cases in Kosciusko County, along with pending cases for the same charges in Wells, Noble, Dekalb and Marshall counties, and possibly one case in Ohio.
“A huge part of what’s caused the wheels to come off is incarceration,”?Lemon said. “That’s resulted in more charges being filed.”
Lemon said there are mitigating factors that Sutton should take into consideration when fashioning his sentence, such as incarceration would cause undue hardship to Lowe’s four dependant children, Lowe is likely to respond well to short-term imprisonment or probation, he has learned hard lessons and has taken responsibility and is remorseful and that he doesn’t believe the crime is likely to reoccur.
Lemon said Lowe’s direction in life when this is all over probably won’t be going back into the contractor’s life of “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Sutton asked Lemon how he’s supposed to sentence Lowe so the victims can get paid back when Lowe has all of these open cases?
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” Sutton said. “The restitution is $63,843 in these cases. That’s a lot of money to pay off.”
Lowe told Sutton, “The whole reason why the company was started was to keep this from happening. I’ve worked for companies that did this. I will make it right. My four children depend on me. It’s Christmastime, and it hurts me that my damage has hurt these victims.”
Lowe then told the judge in his past he has worked for a company where he closed $3.2 million in business deals and pulled in $281,000 in commission.
“When I get out, I’ll make this right. I can do this by working my tail off, to correct this as quick as possible,” Lowe said.
Sutton said he’ll agree with Lemon’s mitigating factors in the case, except the one that the crime is not likely to reoccur.
“I don’t know, that’s not a mitigator,”?Sutton said. “This is a trail of destruction.”
Sutton said that there have also been civil suits filed against Lowe alleging the same crimes, so his pending criminal cases aren’t exactly what meets the eye.
“I’m counting on the fact of your heart being in the right place. It all falls on you,” Sutton told him.
The aggravating factors Sutton accounted for was Lowe’s criminal history, that Lowe violated his pretrial release, and that one of Lowe’s victims wanted a new roof on his home before he died. That man died and he never got the roof put on. Sutton said he is going to call that “taking advantage of a terminally ill man.”
Two $1,500 cash bonds were released and distributed among the victims. One victim of Lowe’s appeared in court – the man owed $500 – and was given the $500 owed from part of Lowe’s bonds.
Lowe’s sentences in each case are to run consecutively with the others.
Lowe will be back in court at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to enter guilty pleas in his two other local criminal cases.
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