Victim swindled by contractor says ultimately there was no justice

NORTHUMBERLAND – In 2001, just months after her husband died, Tina Boldt decided to move forward building their dream home, a log cabin.

After checking for and finding no complaints against Nassau contractor Charles J. Hotaling, she hired him. From July 2001 to early 2002, she paid Hotaling $228,000. But the house was never completed.

Hotaling was eventually convicted in Saratoga County of grand larceny for defrauding Boldt. He was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $96,000 back. But now Boldt says she is not getting all of the court-ordered restitution that was required at Hotaling's sentencing.

The Times Union has also spoken with two other customers who allege Hotaling bilked them out of tens of thousands of dollars since. State Police confirmed that they recently opened a new investigation into Hotaling because of more recent complaints.

“He still owes me $56,000. I'll be dead before he pays me,” said Boldt who, in a renegotiated agreement was supposed to be getting $2,809 per month but has only been getting between $100 to $300 since Hotaling was off probation. “He’s a master manipulator, a master conniver. He is very good at what he does.”

Hotaling, who has until Nov. 22, 2030 to pay the entirety of the Boldt balance, has a similar conviction in Rensselaer County. In 2004, the same year he was convicted in Saratoga County, he failed to complete a couple's dream home on Burden Lake. He was also sentenced to five years probation in that case and ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution.

When reached by the Times Union last week, Hotaling said he has the next nine years to pay Boldt, and that he plans to honor the sentencing agreement.  "I'm not stealing anything from anybody at all," he said. When asked about new customer allegations he said, "I’m not doing anything bad," and that he's "not a scum" the way people are portraying him.

At the time of Hotaling's 2004 sentencing in Saratoga County, then District Attorney James A. Murphy III said if Hotaling failed to make the payments, he could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison, according to Times Union coverage of the case in 2004.

"This case is about holding Charles Hotaling accountable, and right now, we believe the effective way to do that is to make him pay Ms. Boldt back as much as possible,'' Murphy said at the time. ``Restitution is key here.''

When asked about the case, current Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen said she is unfamiliar with it as she was not in office at the time. However, she did say the bar is set high for a civil agreement between a contractor and customer for it to rise to a criminal matter. She also said it is unfortunate that there are no licensing requirements for contractors and that the state Legislature should act to create some.

“That would afford people who have grievances against someone the ability to raise those issues with a licensing board who can determine if someone should be allowed to continue to operate their business,” Heggen said.

The issue with contractors taking money and either running away or doing sub-par work is common. This year, contractor Dwight Fiero, aka David Fiero, who posed as an Iraq War veteran, was sentenced to 18 months to three years in prison for ripping off homeowners who hired him. While he was awaiting sentencing, however, he stole another $50,000 from homeowners. The state Attorney General stepped in and filed more grand larceny charges against him earlier this month.

At the time, Attorney General Letitia James called Fiero’s action appalling and that he violated the public’s trust.

Last October, three people connected to Waterford-based contractor SJR Enterprises were charged by the AG's office with allegedly taking part in a $1 million scheme to defraud homeowners across the state. In the case of one defendant, Robert Decker, records showed the state had accused him of similar schemes dating back to at least 1993.

The AG's website lists what a homeowner should look for before hiring a contractor. Mainly, James' office recommends that consumers shop around, get recommendations, put everything in writing and never pay upfront. 

"Establish a payment schedule and stick to it," James' office suggests. "Often this could include an initial down payment and subsequent incremental payments until the work is completed. Withhold final payment until all the work is completed and all required inspections and certificates of occupancy are finalized....If the contractor doesn’t meet the above criteria, look elsewhere. Even if the contractor seems reputable, it’s simply not worth the risk."

Hotaling's demands for cash was the frustration that Christina Villani of Stillwater said she faced. She said she paid Hotaling $110,000 for a garage to be built in 2019. She said he often only showed up when he needed more money and then he either did not do the work, or did it in a shoddy manner. Ultimately, she had to have the garage rebuilt by another contractor.

At least one other recent victim, Villani said, has also come forward. 

The 69-year-old contractor insists he's not doing anything wrong and that the Times Union is “digging up old stuff" and that anything his clients say is "hearsay."

“They are making up stuff,” Hotaling said, mentioning another client whom the Times Union did not speak with. “It’s not a valid thing.”

He also the state Attorney General's office cleared him after Villani filed a complaint against him. Both he and Villani said the AG did not pursue her complaint. The AG's office did not respond to the Times Union's questions about Villani's complaint.

Villani alleges Hotaling did only partial work, but left what he did exposed to the winter elements between 2019 and 2020. He swore he would finish if she paid him more, but the work was never completed, Villani said.

She said she ultimately had to pay another contractor $24,000 to build the garage properly.

Villani said she is speaking about it now because “I just don’t want this to happened to another individual.” 

Note: The story was updated on Sept. 23 to correct the middle initial of Charles Hotaling.