A Fort Myers man was arrested after being accused of stealing over $39,000 from a woman while posing as a contractor in Charlotte County.
The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office arrested Steven David Saunders, 67, on Wednesday after a year-long investigation.
In March 2024, the victim received quotes for a sunroom addition to her home which she found from a company called TEMO.
Court documents said TEMO told the victim to get in touch with Saunders who is the "owner" of Saunders Enclosures.
Saunders visited the victim's residence on March 14 and was given drawings by the victim of what she wanted to be done. Saunders told the victim that the project would cost $85, 389.23 for the completion of the work.
The victim gave Saunders a down payment of $17,491.87 during that same visit, according to court documents.
On March 22, Saunders came back to the victim's home where he reportedly received another payment of $21,897.36.
On March 28, the victim said she did some research and realized that Saunders does not have a license per DPBR and sent him an email requesting to stop the project and for her money to be refunded.
Court documents said Saunders called the victim and asked for one more day to "make things right" and advised that he was working under Ralph Defrehn's license.
The victim said no and she wanted her money back, which was a total of $39,389.20.
On March 29, the victim was told that Saunders filed for a fictitious name with the county. Additionally, the victim learned that Saunders was issued a citation in Sept. 2023 for unlicensed activity.
The victim then reached out to TEMO who told her that Saunders never sent them any money for the structure and no plans for the sunroom were sent to them.
The victim spoke with the county on May 3 in regards to Saunders which advised her that no permit had been pulled for her home and Saunders is not licensed in Charlotte County.
The victim hired an attorney in June who sent a certified demand letter to Saunders.
Court documents said Saunders returned an email to the attorney advising that he was not refunding the victim.
Deputies researched DPBR, which revealed that Saunders was eligible for an exam; however, he has no license in the county.
Deputies called Saunders, who said that he had the victim's money and no permit had been pulled since the victim did not sign off on the plans.
Saunders told deputies that he has a license in Charlotte County and was working under Ralph Defrehns License. He also told deputies that he had most of the materials ready for construction.
TEMO spoke with deputies and advised them that Saunders was not telling the truth.
On July 17, detectives took over the case and contacted Saunders who told them that he had already spent a "large amount of the money on materials and specific training" for the victim's project.
Saunders said he had a "doing business as" agreement with Ralph Defrehns. Detectives asked for contact information with Ralph, which he said he did not have and that all business done with them was conducted face-to-face.
Detectives researched Saunders on the Florida Department of Business website and learned that he was not a licensed contractor in the State of Florida, nor was he listed as qualified on any other contractor license.
Detectives then spoke to the victim who said Saunders was refusing to reimburse her, despite the demand letter from her attorney.
The victim's attorney said they received a return receipt signed by "Kathy Yurks", who is an employee of Saunders Exteriors.
The victim also provided detectives with messages between her and TEMO, which stated that none of the products had been ordered for her job and they had not received any money from Saunders Exteriors for her job.
On July 30, detectives sai they received a certificate of Non-Licensure for Saunders from a Certified Code Compliance Officer with Charlotte County Community Development, Contractor Licensing Division.
The certificate reportedly detailed that Saunders was not licensed as a construction contractor in Charlotte County.
On Aug. 5, court documents said a subpoena was approved by the State Attorney's Office in regards to Saunders banking institution.
On Aug. 9, detectives received a return from The Apple River State Bank which contained confirmation of his receipt of the victim's checks.
Detecitves said that based on the fact that Saunders was not a licensed contractor, coupled with the fact that he engaged in the business or acted in the capacity of a contractor, they found probable cause that he did commit the offense of unlicensed contracting.
According to the court documents, the offense happened during a State of Emergency which enhanced the violation to a third-degree felony.
Based on the evidence, detectives determined that Saunders had committed a second-degree felony for failing to return the victim's money.
Saunders was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Charlotte County Jail.
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