A Philipsburg contractor was sentenced today after failing to complete a job.
We have more on the homeowner’s reaction to the sentencing.
The victim says she checked references, but it wasn’t enough. She suggests people check even more and even call the Better Business Bureau.
Theo Wasmunski says she thinks the one- to five-year sentence is probably fair to keep that contractor from doing something like this again.
We got video last year of what the home near Osceola Mills looked like after she hired a contractor to make some additions with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen.
Brian Barton, 46, was convicted at a trial and on Tuesday morning, the judge also ordered he pay $70,000 in restitution to the victim and her sister.
Barton’s attorney tried to claim that amount was not proven, and asked for a restitution hearing, but the judge said he had already denied that under another attorney.
“It’s been a long process and still it’s just, the building is just in exactly the same shape as what he left it because of the finances. Basically he took all my savings and all my equity in the other house, so I’m still left trying to figure out how to pay for the rest off the renovations,” says Waksmunski.
Barton told officers he “underbid” the job and ran out of money, and was waiting for Waksmunski to go ahead and sue him so he could then file for bankruptcy, according to the original criminal complaint.