Contractor admits to deceptive business practices in Upper Merion

COURTHOUSE A Phoenixville home-improvement contractor has admitted to deceiving his Upper Merion customers by falsely claiming to have the proper permits to build decks to their homes.

Joseph L. Brown, 49, of the 200 block of Carolina Avenue, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a misdemeanor charge of deceptive business practices in connection with his contact with two Upper Merion residents who hired him to build outdoor decks in 2010.

Judge Garrett D. Page deferred sentencing until a restitution hearing can be held. Brown, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 2 to five years in prison on the charge.

This case involves a contractor who entered into an agreement with two different homeowners to build decks on their homes and the decks were not completed and construction was stopped because the proper permits were not in place, alleged Assistant District Attorney Bradford Richman.

Richman characterized the incidents as quality-of-life crimes because the victims spent their hard-earned money to invest in their homes and were duped.

Other charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property are set to be dismissed against Brown, whom defense lawyer Daniel McCartney is representing, when he is sentenced.

An investigation began on May 24, 2010, when an Upper Merion building official got an anonymous complaint that decks were being built on homes in the Copper Mill Station development on Lawndale Avenue.

When building officials investigated the complaint, they saw a deck under construction at one home in the 200 block of Lawndale Avenue while a new deck ledger board was installed at a second nearby home, according to the criminal complaint that Upper Merion Det. Steven E. Geckle filed.

Inspection of the records indicated that no permits were applied for or issued for any construction at the properties, Geckle alleged in the arrest affidavit.

Township officials saw Brown working on one of the decks. When they asked him about the decks, he told them he was building them some friends, according to arrest documents. Township officials then stopped the jobs and instructed Brown to apply for permits and to provide the township with his contractor licensing information, according to the criminal complaint. Continued...

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Contractor admits to deceptive business practices in Upper Merion