Contractor Accused of Scamming Swissvale Resident, Charged with Fraud

The owner of a Greenfield home improvement company is facing charges in Allegheny Court of Common Pleas after being accused of not finishing a project in Swissvale—and beginning it without a proper license.

Orlando Frank Sciarretti Jr., 58, waived a preliminary hearing on charges of theft, theft by deception and three counts of home improvement fraud last week before Forest Hills District Justice Thomas Caulfield.

The county district attorney's office filed the charges against Sciarretti, who is accused of collecting $25,000 in advance payment for a project and not completing the work.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Caulfield's office, an elderly Swissvale resident hired Sciarretti, owner of Sciarretti Builders Inc., to renovate and repair a home on Woodstock Avenue last year.

Sciarretti received just over $25,000 in advance payments, he demolished the kitchen and bathroom areas of the home and has not completed the project, making the house unliveable—the deadline to finish the project was Oct. 26, 2012. Sciarretti's contracting license also had expired in March 2012.

His formal arraignment has been scheduled for June 5 in common pleas court.

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