Man allegedly overbilled $320,000 then left country
A Genoa City contractor who allegedly bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Town of Linn couple then moved to Costa Rica was returned to Walworth County on an arrest warrant Sept. 19.
David A. Pierce, 42, was charged June 27, 2011, with five counts of theft by a contract of more than $10,000. Each count carries maximum penalties of $25,000 in fines or 10 years in prison.
He was returned on a warrant and appeared in Walworth County Circuit Court Sept. 19 where he was ordered to surrender his passport and $100,000 cash bond was set. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Friday in the case.
According to the criminal complaint:
David and Georgia Nelson entered a contract with Pierce, operating as Pierce Builders Inc. out of Lake Geneva, in October 2006 to make improvements to their Town of Linn property. The project was estimated at nearly $5 million and included monthly fixed costs of $23,785 for things such as trailer and trash container rental; and project manager, coordinator and office staff salaries. The Nelsons gave Pierce a $250,000 deposit when the contract was signed and made bi-monthly payments totaling $5.8 million.
In December 2007, Pierce advised Georgia Nelson that the total cost of the project was $5 million. In February 2008, Pierce provided Nelson with an updated cost of $5.8 million and said he would look into the increase in the cost.
In June 2008, Nelson met with Pierce, who told her he was $500,000 short on her project and presented her with several change orders, some of which she signed. Pierce told Nelson that for him to stay in business, the Nelsons would have to pay all Pierce Builders’ bills, not just those for the Nelsons’ project. Pierce offered to give the Nelsons his boat, proper-ties, truck and whatever else they wanted except the house he and his wife own.
On July 3, 2008, Pierce asked Georgia Nelson to help him make payroll and said he would have to close his business otherwise. Nelson gave Pierce $5,290 to cover his payroll. Five days later, Pierce’s father provided Nelson with a letter saying Pierce was in the process of closing his company and liquidating its assets. In the letter, Pierce offered the Nelsons four properties he owns.
Nelson sent Pierce a letter saying she considered the contract abandoned as of July 16, 2008, but learned Pierce had moved to Costa Rica. The Nelsons asked a former employee of Pierce’s to finish their project. The employee said Pierce would enter dollar figures manually into a computer program that tracked expenses on the Nelsons’ project. He said the actual figures were some-times lower than Pierce originally estimated. He said Pierce also would manually add the 10 percent profit he was allowed under the con-tract before the computer program automatically added it, resulting in a 20 percent increase.
An investigator retrieved actual costs from subcontractors Pierce used on the Nelsons’ project and found amounts that were lower than the figures Pierce recorded and the Nelsons were over-billed more than $320,000 between 2006 and 2008. Pierce allegedly overbilled the following amounts under these subcontractors: $92,887 from Genesis II Landscaping; $86,192 from Jeff’s Masonry; $71,801 from Prate Installations; $54,594 from Lyle’s TV & Appliance; and $28,459 from Cabinet Studio Inc.
