Polk Pool Contractor Accused Of Bilking Customers Out Of $253,000

WINTER HAVEN, FL -- Polk County Sheriff's deputies have arrested the owner of a pool contracting company who deputies say swindled customers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving them with little more than a hole in their back yards.

Deputies arrested John Lee Johnson, 58, owner of Tropic Pools of Central Florida, Winter Haven, Wednesday, Feb. 7, and charged him with grand theft, scheming to defraud and misappropriation of more than $253,000 in construction funds.

During a press conference, Sheriff Grady Judd introduced three of seven central Florida residents he said Johnson bilked through "a pattern of criminal conduct, misappropriated funds, defrauding and stealing."

"The venom just flows from me about the way he treated these wonderful people," said Judd. "He's a crook. Honest people don't do this. "

Judd said the victims placed their trust in Johnson because he is a licensed Florida contractor.

"He had all the papers that we talk about that you need," Judd said. "These folks trusted a person who was a licensed contractor to do the right thing."

Judd said he knows there are more victims who did not file crime reports because they were told it was a civil issue.

"No," Judd said. "This is a crime. This is a pattern of criminal conduct."

Lakeland resident Ruthie Kimmons said she gave Johnson $40,000 to build a pool for her children. She then began investigating Johnson when her pool never materialized.

"It was excuse after excuse," she said. "We got a shell in the ground and then he pretty much never came back."

Suspecting that she wasn't the only victim, Kimmons said she went online and began looking up building permits issued to Johnson. She contacted the homeowners associated with six of those permits and learned that Johnson had never finished their pools.

Kevin Knopf of Lakeland was among them. He said he decided to hire Johnson to build a pool because his wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 bone cancer and doctors told her that low-impact workouts in water would help her.

"We signed the contract and things went well in beginning," said Knopf. "Then, all of a sudden, we couldn't get a hold of him anymore except when he would come out and ask for draws (of funds)."

Chris and Amy Dunnahoe of Lakeland shared a similar story. Amy Dunnahoe's mother moved in with them after she was diagnosed with cancer and they decided to build a pool so she could relax and do low-inpact exercises.

"John said it would take four months so I gave him a draw," said Chris Dunnahoe. Two weeks later, Dunnahoe said Johnson came out and dug up the sod in his back yard, which Johnson then sold.

"Eventually, he put in a shell but by then we started getting liens on our house," he said. "We depleted our savings trying to put this pool in."

In the end, Dunnahoe's mother-in-law died before the pool was completed.

Video via Polk County Sheriff's Office