Chief WINK Investigates Reporter: Chorus Nylander
•7/22/2026
FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK) — Michael Crawford is no stranger to sacrifice or struggle, he chose to retire in Fort Myers after spending over 30 years as a police officer and firefighter out of state.
Crawford moved to his current home along the Caloosahatchee in 2015. During hurricane Ian the sea wall protecting his home was damaged.
Hoping to safeguard his property for decades to come, he invested roughly $30,000 of his hard-earned retirement money into a new seawall, hiring Crocker Marine for the job in September 2024.
What started as a hopeful investment quickly devolved into frustration.
According to Crawford, warning signs appeared early. He noticed water surging up from underneath the structure before it was backfilled. Now that the job is complete, he says he has to add backfill every few weeks just to keep the ground level.
Crawford showed Chief WINK Investigates Reporter Chorus Nylander the state of his sea wall in June. He shoved his hand through the ground on the backend of the wall, showing how loose the backfill is.
He also claimed that due to a measurement error by the installation crew, workers had to resort to using sledgehammers to break off the tops of the wall just to fit the cap on.
WINK Investigates brought Crawford's concerns straight to Crocker Marine, CEO Joshua Pleasant and his attorney quickly pushed back. They defended the quality of the work, pointing to a third-party contractor review and passing Lee County inspections as proof that the job was done right.
However, Lee County officials clarified that their involvement is strictly limited to a general structural review. They do not oversee backfill quality or seam integrity, leaving those critical responsibilities entirely up to the contractor.
A spokesperson for Lee County told us the following:
“Lee County’s role in seawall permitting and inspection is limited to performing a final inspection. There are no Florida Building Code prescribed, trade‑specific inspection requirements for seawalls beyond that final inspection.
For seawall construction, inspectors do not observe or verify the following elements:
These components are the responsibility of the licensed contractor and design professional. The contractor must adhere to the approved engineering plans and ensure compliance with all design standards established by the engineer of record.
For this permit, the inspector performed two courtesy site inspections as well as the two other required site inspections.
The two courtesy inspections were not requested through the formal inspection process but were done to monitor general progress per the owner’s request.
During the inspections, the installation met the minimum requirements for seawall length, location, height and installation of the seawall cap.
These courtesy observations, however, do not replace the contractor’s responsibility, nor do they constitute inspections of concealed structural elements.”
Seeking an expert second opinion, Crawford hired Honc Marine—a company with nearly 70 years of experience in the local marine construction industry. Honc’s team uncovered severe defects. Owner John Honc Jr. spoke with Chorus Nylander about the work his team reviewed.
"It has leaks in almost every seam in the seawall," Honc stated. "Anybody would recommend that thing be torn out and replaced."
After the Phone call July 8th between Pleasant, his attorney and Chorus Nylander, Pleasant arranged a meeting with Crawford to review the sea wall. WINK Investigates was invited and made no prior agreements that there would be no cameras.
When Pleasant arrived for the meeting at Crawford’s home on July 14th, he saw we had a photographer and a camera, that was not recording, and immediately said “have a good day” and turned around to leave.
Chorus Nyander questioned him about the decision to leave over our plans to record the meeting. An agreement was then reached to not record the meeting, but Chorus Nylander observed the discussions.
While Pleasant disagreed with many of the homeowner's claims and the general allegations of the wall being poorly built, he acknowledged a few flaws —including a large tarp left submerged underwater and a potentially hazardous piece of exposed rebar protruding from the water.
The meeting concluded with a handshake and an understanding a proposal would be made to enforce the work to Crawford’s satisfaction. A few days later Crocker Marine sent Crawford a formal proposal including the following:
Despite the concessions, Crawford ultimately chose not to sign the agreement, citing a total breakdown in trust. "Like I told him out there, I don’t trust him," Crawford said.
In response, Joshua Pleasant sent us text messages from March that show he was offering to review the wall at that time. It also showed that Crawford told him he no longer trusted Crocker Marine to do the work.
Crocker Marine sent us the following statement:
“Thank you for bringing Mr. Crawford’s concerns to our attention. Customer satisfaction matters deeply to us, and we take every complaint seriously, regardless of how much time has passed since a project’s completion.
After your team reached out, I personally met with Mr. Crawford and your reporter on site for close to an hour. We walked the entire property together, listened to every concern he raised about the seawall installed just over a year ago, and worked through possible solutions in real time.
Following that visit, we put together a detailed Post Construction Customer Service Agreement addressing each item Mr. Crawford raised on site, including seam sealing and panel work, full site cleanup, backfill and sod restoration, additional weep hole installation for drainage, and a 50-year transferable warranty. We’ve included the details of that proposal below so your viewers and our community can see exactly what we offered.
Mr. Crawford ultimately declined the proposal. We respect his decision, but we also want to be transparent about the lengths we were willing to go to make this customer satisfied.
Crocker Marine Services is guided by three core pillars: guided by faith, driven by integrity, and committed to excellence. We don’t get every project perfect, and we’re honest about that. What we can control is how we respond when something falls short, and we believe our response here reflects that commitment.
We appreciate you giving us the opportunity to address this directly, and we’re happy to answer any further questions.”
Crawford is now choosing to move on without them. He has enlisted Honc Marine to take over the project, shelling out more than $11,000 to get the seawall up to his standards.
If you have a story you’d like WINK Investigates to look into email us at winkinvestigates@winknews.com or call our tip line at 239-344-5074.
