A Philadelphia man has been charged with deceptive business practices after charging $63,400 for shoddy and uncompleted work for a blind Haverford Township couple who are in their 70s.
Haverford police have charged Joseph Tell, 66, of the 2000 block of North 28th Street in Philadelphia with deceptive business practices, theft and related charges..
According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Haverford Detective Stephen Rost, police received a fraud report on Sept. 23 from a couple on the 600 block of Drayton Road in Bryn Mawr.
The couple said Tell called them and said he owned a company called Keystone Building Repair. They agreed to have Tell complete three home projects: a hole under the kitchen floor, the railing on a set of back steps to a porch and to patch, replace and paint part of the kitchen ceiling.
During the initial work Tell advised the couple that other work needed to be done. He listed 14 items.
In August and September the work was supposedly done and Tell charged the couple $63,400, which they paid.
Detectives found Keystone Building Repair is not registered with the Pennsylvania attorney general as required by law.
For all the work, Teller provided three handwritten proposals. One said, “Go to Walmart buy new wall speaker phone and install, so it won’t come off the wall.”
The proposal placed the price of that work at $8,400. Investigators found the VTECH phone that was installed, it is listed on Walmart.com for $24.89 and was installed using one screw.
A second proposal stated the walls in the basement need resurfacing, and it quoted $5,800 for that repair, it also stated pipe wrap was required for energy economy at a cost of $1,200 and a hand rail that it stated violated building code and was quoted $1,800 for repair.
Police found no evidence of the pipes being wrapped. The hand rail appeared flimsy and loose and a codes officer said having a handrail was not a violation.
The basement floor and walls were painted, but furniture and other items that had been stored there before the work were missing.
The third proposal detailed work to be done to the kitchen floor, dissembling a ceiling fan, repairing an outside rail, replacing locks, sanding and staining the kitchen island and repairing and painting the ceiling.
Rost went through the home with the couple and a family member. They found the flooring where the hole was to be repaired was still loose and seemed to sink when someone stepped on it. Areas that were supposed to be painted appeared uneven, scratched, peeling or did not appear painted at all. Previous repairs for a ceiling fan were visible; one wall had a plaster patch that was not fixed.
Two bar stools, for which the couple were charged $2,500, had scratches and dents. The couple was told they were purchased at a store in Philadelphia, but no receipt was provided. The stools are listed on Amazon for about $120 a pair, investigators found.
Investigators observed other shoddy repairs and issues.
Detectives reached out to Tell, and he agreed to meet with them to discuss the issues. However, that meeting was canceled.
On Tuesday Tell turned himself in to Haverford police and appeared at his hearing with his lawyer.
District Justice Elysia Mancini Duerr set an unsecured bail pending his Dec. 13 preliminary hearing.
Tell’s lawyer, Eugene Bonner, said Wednesday, “He’s cooperating with everybody and we hope to get everything straightened out.”
