Charges certified against owner of Roanoke home renovation company accused of taking money but not doing work – Roanoke Times

Four felony offenses were certified this week against the co-owner of a Roanoke home renovation and roofing company who is accused of failing to do construction work he was paid to perform.

Nathan Jay Laurain is a partner in HomeFront Renovations on Colonial Avenue. The four active counts against him are scheduled to be considered by a grand jury in October.

At his hearing Thursday in Roanoke General District Court, Laurain, 37, also saw the dismissal of five misdemeanor counts of working without a license.

A state police search warrant filed in July said that at least six HomeFront Renovations customers have claimed they paid for work that was not done. It claimed the operations in question had been undertaken in Botetourt, Bedford, Giles and Roanoke counties, and in the cities of Roanoke and Salem.

The warrant also says that since last October, the business has banked more than $1.25 million worth of checks.

On Friday, Laurain was also indicted in Salem Circuit Court on one count of construction fraud, according to Commonwealths Attorney Tom Bowers. A court date has not yet been set.

In August, Laurain resolved an embezzlement charge involving another company, ZJ Home Improvements, by pleading no contest to a reduced count of grand larceny. The three-year prison term he received was suspended in its entirety, but he was ordered to pay $45,000 in restitution to the company at a minimum of $300 a month.

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Charges certified against owner of Roanoke home renovation company accused of taking money but not doing work - Roanoke Times