Florida sheriff arrests Texas roof repairer for making an attempt to paintings on houses broken through Storm Ian

Florida sheriff arrests Texas roof repairer for making an attempt to paintings on houses broken through Storm Ian

Florida sheriff deputies have arrested a roof repairer from Texas who was once making an attempt to fix properties in a space hit onerous through Storm Ian.

In keeping with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Place of work (CCSO), the landlord of Duque Roofing, Terence Duque, was once arrested remaining Friday for contracting with no Florida license, which is a criminal crime.

CCSO mentioned that the Charlotte County Financial Crimes Unit won a decision from an investigator on the Division of Industry and Skilled Legislation at 1:30 p.m. remaining Friday.

“The investigator knowledgeable the CCSO detective {that a} roofing corporate, Duque Roofing, was once discovered to be in Charlotte County, carrying out industry with no Florida license to take action, and {that a} home-owner had already agreed to a freelance with them,” CCSO’s publish in regards to the arrest mentioned.

The publish additionally famous that Duque idea he was once in the appropriate through appearing as much as restore hurricane-damaged roofs.

CCSO mentioned that Duque had learn the Governor’s State of Emergency order referring to contractors, and that he understood it to imply that contractors from out of state had been approved to paintings in Florida. However the order simplest eased laws for contractors inside the state, no longer from out of state.

The sheriff mentioned Duque instructed officials an worker of his made touch with the Florida Division of Industry Legislation (DPBR) and {that a} consultant had given him permission to behavior industry in Florida, even though he may just no longer give you the identify of the consultant.

Duque Roofing has been in industry in Texas and Louisiana for 13 years and is rated A+ through the Higher Industry Bureau. The corporate has achieved paintings within the aftermath of a number of hurricanes, and its website online says that workers supply tarps, meals and water for the ones impacted. The corporate additionally has a focal point on offering jobs for veterans.

Florida contractor necessities are notoriously strict and dear, extra so than in Texas, consistent with the website online Building Dive. However the necessities are basically supposed to ensure companies in Florida are as much as same old. In the meantime, Duque Roofing is already recognized for doing forged paintings in more than one states.

“The intensive monetary and alertness necessities of licensing techniques, like there are in Florida and California, lend a hand weed out the ones financially unprepared to run a development industry,” Building Dive wrote.

Florida’s necessities will also be to ensure predatory contractors don’t take the cash and run, the website online says. However with Duque’s intensive file of doing post-disaster maintenance, and different huge development trailers and RV that they dropped at Charlotte County as documented through CCSO, there’s no proof that the corporate had plans to rip-off other folks out of cash.

Nonetheless, CCSO Sheriff Invoice Prummell accused Duque of “victimizing” citizens.

“Lack of knowledge isn’t an excuse,” Prummell wrote. “If you’re in Charlotte County, doing industry with the folk of this neighborhood, you had higher be at the up-and-up and feature the best licensing and insurance coverage. Those other folks had been thru sufficient, and I can no longer permit unlicensed contractors to additional victimize them.”

CCSO’s information liberate mentioned that Duque was once transported to Charlotte County Prison with out incident. However in a seek of CCSO’s arrest portal, Duque’s identify didn’t seem within the effects. DPBR, CCSO and Duque Roofing have no longer but spoke back to requests for remark from Inventive Loafing Tampa Bay.

The day gone by, DPBR celebrated the arrest of Duque on Twitter, and won numerous pushback from the general public.

“All through a State of Emergency, running with out right kind licensure is a criminal. Because of #DBPR‘s Department of Legislation’s onerous paintings in impacted spaces, @CCSOFLSheriff arrested an unlicensed roofing employee placing Floridians in peril,” DBPR wrote, with an image of what looks as if Duque being arrested through CCSO underneath the textual content.

Then, the feedback began coming in.

“You guys are a shame,” one commenter wrote.

“Have you learnt that you just’re the dangerous guys?” some other wrote.

Just about 900 feedback have poured in as of now, in conjunction with nearly 400 quote tweets, as regards to they all berating CCSO and DPBR for the arrest.

Listed here are a number of the tweets …

Justin Garcia reporting by means of Inventive Loafing Tampa Bay.


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Florida sheriff arrests Texas roofer for attempting to work on homes damaged by Hurricane Ian