Rochester Man Faces Theft Charge
August 31, 2020 at 11:29 p.m.
By Amanda Bridgman-
James Edwin McElroy, 38, of 705 E. Fourth St., lot 82, Rochester, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 11:35 a.m. Friday and faces a Level 6 felony theft charge.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Aug. 24 in Kosciusko Superior Court III, in July 2019, McElroy had entered into a contract with a homeowner to install a metal roof, new windows and remove and replace the home’s vinyl siding. McElroy charged the man $30,000 for the job and got $15,000 up front.
According to court papers, before McElroy started any work, he went to the homeowner and said he blew the money and can’t go buy materials now. The homeowner then agreed that the $15,000 McElroy spent would be applied to the labor of the job, and the homeowner agreed to enter into a new contract.
Later, according to the affidavit, the homeowner stopped by a job McElroy was doing at another home and deemed the work to be substandard. The homeowner told McElroy he needed to fix the job he was doing before starting work on his home.
However, McElroy never did do any work and eventually shut his phone off, never paying back the $15,000.
McElroy’s bond was set at $17,000.
James Edwin McElroy, 38, of 705 E. Fourth St., lot 82, Rochester, was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail at 11:35 a.m. Friday and faces a Level 6 felony theft charge.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Aug. 24 in Kosciusko Superior Court III, in July 2019, McElroy had entered into a contract with a homeowner to install a metal roof, new windows and remove and replace the home’s vinyl siding. McElroy charged the man $30,000 for the job and got $15,000 up front.
According to court papers, before McElroy started any work, he went to the homeowner and said he blew the money and can’t go buy materials now. The homeowner then agreed that the $15,000 McElroy spent would be applied to the labor of the job, and the homeowner agreed to enter into a new contract.
Later, according to the affidavit, the homeowner stopped by a job McElroy was doing at another home and deemed the work to be substandard. The homeowner told McElroy he needed to fix the job he was doing before starting work on his home.
However, McElroy never did do any work and eventually shut his phone off, never paying back the $15,000.
McElroy’s bond was set at $17,000.
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