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Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham will be the first to tell you that contractor fraud is hard to prosecute criminally. While she could not comment on the Santini Contractors case directly, Abraham said that criminal charges require proof of a pattern of intent to steal.
"It’s very complex, because most of this stuff is truly civil," she said. "A reputable fixer may fall on hard times and say, ‘I’ll just take some money.’"
The truly criminal contractors, Abraham said, can be prosecuted "if we can prove that they had an intention right when they began the conversation to steal."
Other factors include the number of people with complaints, the price of the estimates that a contractor has given to customers, and what line a contractor uses to convince people to go with his bid, she said.
In 2004, Philadelphia police investigated 7,236 cases of general fraud, a 1.3 percent increase from the previous year. Information was unavailable on the outcomes of those cases.
The Pennsylvania attorney general reported 3,000 home-repair complaints in 2004, the most recent statistical year. It ranked as the fourth-highest complaint category for seniors, and the fifth-highest for consumers in general.
An office spokesman confirmed that the agency also is investigating Santini Contractors, but declined to comment on aspects of the probe for this article.
Most contractor-fraud cases, Abraham said, are settled in civil court. Victims, however, do not always get full restitution for damages.
But when contractors like the Tragers are already being criminally investigated, can they still pursue business?
The answer, apparently, is yes.
The city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections said that Santini Contractors has a business license but no contractor’s license. (A list of licensed contractors is available on the agency’s Web site at www.phila.gov/li)
L&I Commissioner Robert D. Solvibile Jr. said that to shut down the roofing business on the license violation, his inspectors would have to catch the Tragers doing work on a home. City Councilman Brian O’Neill (R-10th dist.) contends that the Tragers are violating L&I requirements simply by operating their business out of a home, a violation of the city code.
"I don’t know if we could pull the (business) license," Solvibile said. "It’s hard to say . . . there are so many legal things involved."
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Since multiple people have come forth with complaints about the Tragers’ business practices — including allegations of work never started, deposits never returned, phone calls never returned — how have they evaded the attention of law enforcement for so long?
The reason could be rooted in what investigators like Vega found — people complain to different agencies when they feel they’ve been scammed.
Some victims in fraud cases file complaints with the state attorney general’s office, others take them to the local Better Business Bureau, and some just take matters to civil court, where cases typically are settled by restitution.
Locally, Santini Contractors is not one of the business members that compose the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Legal struggles, though, aren’t a recent occurrence for the Northeast roofing company. In fact, Philadelphia court records show that Santini Contractors — which has also operated under Santini Roofing and Santini Roofing Inc. — was the focal point of intermittent civil cases dating to 1989. The plaintiffs included the Internal Revenue Service and several insurance companies.
According to authorities, illicit home-improvement firms often stay elusive with a deftly timed change of name. If they sense that their business practices are leaving a potentially troublesome trail, they’ll resurface with a new company name, even if their conduct hasn’t changed.
That change in names, Abraham said, can sometimes be a telltale sign that a business is up to no good.
"One day they’re XYZ Contractors, the next day they’re something else," Abraham said.
Records show that Gary Trager registered his business with the Pennsylvania Department of State under the names Santini Contractors and Santini Roofing Inc., in 1995 and 1987, respectively. Both businesses, which list the same Dewees Street address, are still considered active, according to records obtained from the department’s Web site.
The Santini Roofing Inc. business, however, lists a different spelling of the last name Trager.
A spokeswoman with the Department of State said she was unsure if the agency cross-checks the existence of businesses that are registered under several names and operate from the same address.
The Times contacted the Tragers at Santini Contractors last week, hoping to discuss their business and the charges brought against them, but they are referring media inquiries to their lawyer, Tim Tarpey.
Tarpey, whose clients claimed in previous news reports that health problems kept them from finishing some repair jobs, said it’s too early to comment on the charges. The Tragers are scheduled to appear at an April 9 preliminary hearing.
"We’re at such a very early stage on this," Tarpey said. "What we’re really looking forward to is getting our day in court. We’re just starting our own investigation."
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The local Better Business Bureau does cross-reference complaints with other offices if a pattern appears among certain contractors, according to regional vice president Andrew P. Goode. The agency also attempts to list any aliases that companies on file may assume. Sometimes, according to Goode, fraudulent contractors go undetected because their victims never officially file complaints.
"The fact of the matter is that people don’t file complaints," said Goode, whose office has nine complaints logged against the Tragers. "For every complaint we get, there are fifteen or twenty people out there who didn’t file complaints."
Some in law enforcement consider that an important first step. In fact, Detective Rose DiLacqua, assigned to the police department’s Crimes Against the Retired and Elderly Unit, recommends that individuals file complaints with several agencies. Her unit assists with investigations of any crimes involving seniors over 60.
Filing complaints with multiple agencies can provide leverage if the case goes to trial, DiLacqua said. She recalls a case in recent years involving a contractor who defrauded at least 30 people, mostly seniors. He is serving a state prison sentence.
Even if a pattern of fraud is just being established, investigators have found that taking a case public — as South Detectives did with Santini Contractors — can be an effective way of learning just how many victims are out there.
"Once you get so many, it’s best to put that public advertisement out there," DiLacqua said. "That can give you what you need. That’s the important piece."
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On Dec. 31, 2005, the New Jersey Legislature enacted the Contractors’ Registration Act, requiring contractors to sign up with the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs.
The move in part was a response to the growing profile of home-improvement fraud, and a provision of the act made simply not registering with the state a fourth-degree crime, punishable by fines, a prison sentence or both.
Pennsylvania is taking that cue with a similar registration requirement. Senate Bill 1000, introduced by Bensalem state Sen. Robert M. "Tommy" Tomlinson (R-6th dist.), has been voted out of the Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee, which he chairs. Tomlinson hopes that it will gain legislative approval by the summer.
The act would require contractors to pay a $50 registration fee every two years, Tomlinson said. It also would keep track of a business’s history of other names and if the principals had ever filed for bankruptcy.
The most important point for consumers is that the new act would make contractor fraud a criminal issue.
"They would no longer have to file a civil suit," Tomlinson said.
Actually, the bill had an earlier go-round but failed to pass the legislature because House members wanted the inclusion of an indemnity fund to help pay back money lost by defrauded consumers.
Contractors in the Pennsylvania Builders Association had a problem with that, said the organization’s spokesman, Scott Elliott.
As Elliott points out, contractors whose misdeeds land them in the legal spotlight can unfairly tarnish contractors who take their businesses and customer service quite seriously. Although many contractors in the 12,000-member state organization feel the legislative act would help weed out bad businesspeople, they fear they would be penalized by having to pay into the reimbursement fund to cover the transgressions of those people, Elliott explained.
"If you’re going to have a fund like that, you need to have money to go into the fund. Those good contractors were already hurt up front from a consumer who went with a different bid," Elliott said.
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Mayfair resident Miriam Pompe said she wants to give business to the good contractors, but she also wants to protect herself and fellow seniors from the bad ones.
Each year, Pompe, 77, compiles a referral list of reputable contractors to distribute to members of the Northeast Council of Senior Citizens. She serves as president of the St. Matthew Church’s club.
Contractors get referred by other members of the 170-member council, Pompe said. She reviews the businesses each year. And if she hears that a consumer filed a complaint against a particular business, they get no second chances.
"If I get a complaint, I call them up and tell them. One strike, they’re out," Pompe. "We’re not here to be suckered in. We’re here to help."
Other local senior groups that refer reputable contractors include the Rhawnhurst Naturally Occurring Retirement Community and the Mayfair Community Development Corp.
As for Joe, one of the Tragers’ alleged victims, he found a reputable contractor in the suburbs to repair his roof, he said. The job cost him about $600 less than the estimate he got from Santini Contractors.
Joe is happy that police have undertaken an investigation against the Trager brothers. He plans to testify at the April 9 preliminary hearing.
"I feel happy," Joe said. "Maybe I’ll get my money back now." ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com
How New Jersey does it . . .
Helpful numbers in Pennsylvania . . .