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Friday, November 12, 2004 10:19 AM
The Runaway Repairman 11/11/04
That's right, the Attorney General's Office went after him once — and then a second time. But we found that hasn't made a local "Runaway Repairman" fix his botched jobs — or stop working. Rose Bray/Catskill: "Right here, you can see the stains." Rose Bray's roofer was supposed to stop the leaks in her Catskill home. But she says instead, he caused them. Rose Bray/Catskill: "The side of the walls upstairs were all stained...I thought he was, ya know, on the up and up." Thing is, he lied to her from the start. Rose Bray/Catskill: "I asked him his name, he said Bob Steele. I didn't find out that his name was Tom Hall until I contacted the Attorney General's office." Tom Hall promised to redo her roof for three thousand dollars two years ago. But she says he put new materials over the old... and didn't seal the roof properly. Rose Bray/Catskill: "I don't even know if I've got tar paper up there. I mean, it was a disaster." Mildred Wolfe/South Cairo: "I trusted him. I mean I didn't know. Mildred Wolfe and her late husband hired Hall too — after seeing this ad. They gave him five thousand bucks for a new room and deck... but Wolfe says the addition started falling off the house. Mildred Wolfe/South Cairo: "When he got all his money, then he disappeared. And he didn't come back and we couldn't get him." Like Rose Bray, they called the Attorney General. We discovered Eliot Spitzer's office took Hall to court for fraud in '96... forcing him to give consumers their money back... and to become bonded if he did contracting again. So, when the AG learned of these new complaints... and that Hall was never bonded... it asked a judge to convict him of contempt and make him repay the money. Amy Polacko: "But Supreme Court Judge Joseph Teresi made Hall pay only a thousand bucks. A fine... paid to the County Clerk." Sound of camera clicking (photo of Hall returning money) Mildred Wolfe says Hall returned their money only because his uncle was embarrassed and made him. But they didn't visit Rose Bray. Rose Bray/Catskill: "He didn't pay me anything — I didn't get a penny." Sound of entering shop We tracked Hall down — at his friend's Schenectady flower shop. And the first time... he tried to pretend he wasn't Thomas Hall at all. Thomas Hall: "He shouldn't be coming here anymore." And the second time... Amy: "We want to ask you about Rose Bray..." Tom Hall yelling: "I'll call her and give her my side of things if she wants to give me a number." Hall never called us. And Rose Bray says he will just keep ripping people off... Rose Bray/Catskill: "And I'm so angry." ...until someone steps in — and puts him out of business once and for all. Rose Bray/Catskill: "He's either got to pay or he's got to go to jail. That's where he belongs, in jail. To think about what he did to people like us." Bray blames the Attorney General's office for not doing enough in this case. But it insists that it wanted Tom Hall banned from the business. Spitzer's office says, unfortunately, it's bound by the judge's decision. We were unable to reach Judge Teresi for his comment on the case.
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A Subscription to Scam? 5/25/05
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