CT steamrolls N. Britain paving contractor

The state has yanked a New Britain contractor's license for overcharging five customers, including an elderly woman, more than $30,000 for shoddy, incomplete or unwanted driveway paving and for lying on his license application, authorities say.

The state Department of Consumer Protection said Thursday it revoked the home-improvement registration for Brian S. Curylo, doing business as Hot Top Paving.

The agency also said it ordered Curylo to repay the five customers the $30,990 he defrauded from them, plus $5,750 more in civil penalties.

According to state investigators, the action stemmed from numerous complaints the agency received beginning last March about paving jobs that were unfinished, overpriced or of inferior quality. In one case, Hot Top workers even began excavating an existing driveway despite being told immediately beforehand that no driveway work was wanted at that time, investigators said.

The agency said it investigated and last October leveled an administrative complaint against Curylo, charging him violating the state's home-improvement and unfair trade practices statutes.

In a separate case, Curylo charged a 68-year-old woman $6,450 for an inferior paving job on her driveway, then returned uninvited over three more days in less than two weeks to do more work on the same driveway, the state said. He then handed her three more bills, which she immediately paid.

In all, he billed the woman $21,050 for work that a different contractor later had to be called in to do the job right for less than $4,000, the state said.

Investigators found other complaints against Curylo for not completing work for which he was contracted and paid for, nor did he respond to his customers' requests for a refund.

The state also said it discovered Curylo lied on his home-improvement contractor's license about a 2004 felony conviction for third-degree larceny. That alone was grounds to revoke his license, the state said.

Curylo couldn't be located Thursday for comment. A message on Hot Top's phone line wasn't immediately returned.

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CT steamrolls N. Britain paving contractor