2nd Arrest Made In Connection With Home Improvement Case
March 7, 2019 at 6:18 p.m.
2nd Arrest Made In Connection With Home Improvement Case
By David [email protected]
Robert Kenneth Melton, 31, of 46 E. Center St., Silver Lake, was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 8:32 p.m. Tuesday for exploitation of a dependent or endangered adult. His preliminary bond was set at $10,000 surety and $250 cash.
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Court documents filed in November 2017 list the charges against him as exploitation of an endangered adult, a level 6 felony; home improvement fraud, a Class A misdemeanor; and home improvement fraud, a level 6 felony with an enhancement to make it a level 5 felony.
Chester Leroy Hankey, 46, Silver Lake, was arrested and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail in September 2018 for exploitation of an endangered adult, a level 6 felony; home improvement fraud, a Class A misdemeanor; and home improvement fraud, a level 6 felony with an enhancement to make it a level 5 felony.
On Oct. 24, 2017, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Det. Shane Bucher met with a bank client protection service manager who said she wanted to report a home improvement fraud. She said a bank customer had written 10 checks totaling $20,150 for minor construction to her residence. She said the checks were written to Melton, Hankey and Peter Iseton.
On Nov. 13, 2017, Bucher went to the victim’s home to speak with her. She told him he had just missed Melton who had been working on the house. She said he just replaced a garage door opener and charged her $4,600. She said she thought that was too much money for a garage door opener and provided Bucher with two work statements for the door opener replacement.
The statement dated Nov. 11, 2017, showed an installation of a garage door, rail, motor, roof shingles, hole patched and she was charged $3,700 by Melton. The second statement, dated Nov. 13, 2017, called for a new garage door track, new garage door motor, new wiring on tracks, remotes and other items. The victim was charged $4,600, which was the second time she paid for the work for a total of $8,300. Shingles were installed incorrectly, according to court documents.
The victim showed Bucher the replaced garage door opener that Melton installed. Bucher saw the garage door opener sensors were installed incorrectly as one was laying on a shelf unattached. The garage door and rail had not been changed and it was the same old garage door with a seal screwed on the bottom. He saw on the roof what appeared to be half a bundle of shingles had been attached incorrectly as they did not overlap.
The victim said that on Aug. 8, 2017, Melton came to her home and asked if he could pressure wash the home. She agreed to the work and he charged her $1,200. He had her write the check to his cousin, Iseton.
Melton returned Aug. 11, 2017, and told her she needed to pay him for power washing the home and she wrote a check for $1,200 to Iseton. The victim provided the statement that said work to be done included scraping the house, painting it, garage, power wash, clean roof moss, break up and replace the sidewalk, gutter repair cut trim for garage and/or repair for $1,200. She said she paid for the same work two times. When Bucher examined the work, he found paint all over the windows and bubbling and streaks on the areas painted.
Melton was to cut two trees and grind both of the stumps for the victim for $1,500. She wrote two more checks for the removal of the same two trees, totaling $6,800.
She provided another invoice to grind stumps and related work for $6,688 and then another check for $3,344, for a total of $10,144 for cutting the trees and grinding them. Bucher found only two trees had been cut and stumps ground. The victim said when one tree was cut, it fell on her roof and they charged her to fix the roof.
She provided another statement that also included painting the house. The power washing and other items she already had paid for on Aug. 14. She wrote another check to Hankey for $2,700 and one for $650. She said that Melton told her if she didn’t fix the hole in the roof that they had made when dropping the trees, animals would get in and destroy the residence.
Bucher spoke with Melton, who said he was doing business as Best Seal Fort Wayne and had done numerous jobs for the victim with subcontractors Iseton and Hankey. Melton said he does not charge by the hour, but by the job as a flat fee. He admitted he charged the victim for a new garage door but did not install it.
Bucher learned the victim had exhausted her funds at one bank and switched to her other bank account and wrote Melton a check for $19,144 for the work done to her residence.
Total amount paid to Melton, Iseton and Hankey for the work was $39,244.
Bucher spoke to a garage door service, which told him it would only charge $400 to supply and replace a garage door opener. The garage door service representative said the sensors and the garage door seal were installed incorrectly and would ruin the door, and that anything over $500 to provide and install them would be “unconscionable.”
Robert Kenneth Melton, 31, of 46 E. Center St., Silver Lake, was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail at 8:32 p.m. Tuesday for exploitation of a dependent or endangered adult. His preliminary bond was set at $10,000 surety and $250 cash.
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Court documents filed in November 2017 list the charges against him as exploitation of an endangered adult, a level 6 felony; home improvement fraud, a Class A misdemeanor; and home improvement fraud, a level 6 felony with an enhancement to make it a level 5 felony.
Chester Leroy Hankey, 46, Silver Lake, was arrested and booked into the Kosciusko County Jail in September 2018 for exploitation of an endangered adult, a level 6 felony; home improvement fraud, a Class A misdemeanor; and home improvement fraud, a level 6 felony with an enhancement to make it a level 5 felony.
On Oct. 24, 2017, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Det. Shane Bucher met with a bank client protection service manager who said she wanted to report a home improvement fraud. She said a bank customer had written 10 checks totaling $20,150 for minor construction to her residence. She said the checks were written to Melton, Hankey and Peter Iseton.
On Nov. 13, 2017, Bucher went to the victim’s home to speak with her. She told him he had just missed Melton who had been working on the house. She said he just replaced a garage door opener and charged her $4,600. She said she thought that was too much money for a garage door opener and provided Bucher with two work statements for the door opener replacement.
The statement dated Nov. 11, 2017, showed an installation of a garage door, rail, motor, roof shingles, hole patched and she was charged $3,700 by Melton. The second statement, dated Nov. 13, 2017, called for a new garage door track, new garage door motor, new wiring on tracks, remotes and other items. The victim was charged $4,600, which was the second time she paid for the work for a total of $8,300. Shingles were installed incorrectly, according to court documents.
The victim showed Bucher the replaced garage door opener that Melton installed. Bucher saw the garage door opener sensors were installed incorrectly as one was laying on a shelf unattached. The garage door and rail had not been changed and it was the same old garage door with a seal screwed on the bottom. He saw on the roof what appeared to be half a bundle of shingles had been attached incorrectly as they did not overlap.
The victim said that on Aug. 8, 2017, Melton came to her home and asked if he could pressure wash the home. She agreed to the work and he charged her $1,200. He had her write the check to his cousin, Iseton.
Melton returned Aug. 11, 2017, and told her she needed to pay him for power washing the home and she wrote a check for $1,200 to Iseton. The victim provided the statement that said work to be done included scraping the house, painting it, garage, power wash, clean roof moss, break up and replace the sidewalk, gutter repair cut trim for garage and/or repair for $1,200. She said she paid for the same work two times. When Bucher examined the work, he found paint all over the windows and bubbling and streaks on the areas painted.
Melton was to cut two trees and grind both of the stumps for the victim for $1,500. She wrote two more checks for the removal of the same two trees, totaling $6,800.
She provided another invoice to grind stumps and related work for $6,688 and then another check for $3,344, for a total of $10,144 for cutting the trees and grinding them. Bucher found only two trees had been cut and stumps ground. The victim said when one tree was cut, it fell on her roof and they charged her to fix the roof.
She provided another statement that also included painting the house. The power washing and other items she already had paid for on Aug. 14. She wrote another check to Hankey for $2,700 and one for $650. She said that Melton told her if she didn’t fix the hole in the roof that they had made when dropping the trees, animals would get in and destroy the residence.
Bucher spoke with Melton, who said he was doing business as Best Seal Fort Wayne and had done numerous jobs for the victim with subcontractors Iseton and Hankey. Melton said he does not charge by the hour, but by the job as a flat fee. He admitted he charged the victim for a new garage door but did not install it.
Bucher learned the victim had exhausted her funds at one bank and switched to her other bank account and wrote Melton a check for $19,144 for the work done to her residence.
Total amount paid to Melton, Iseton and Hankey for the work was $39,244.
Bucher spoke to a garage door service, which told him it would only charge $400 to supply and replace a garage door opener. The garage door service representative said the sensors and the garage door seal were installed incorrectly and would ruin the door, and that anything over $500 to provide and install them would be “unconscionable.”
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