HOULTON, Maine — After deliberating for just under two hours, a 12-member jury found an Oakfield contractor guilty of theft by deception Thursday in Houlton.
Eric Bartell, 55, charged with theft by deception and home repair fraud, was convicted on only one count.
“The jury found Bartell guilty of theft by deception over $10,000 and not guilty on the charge of home repair fraud,” Aroostook County Superior Court Justice Stephen Nelson said.
Initially a Class C felony, the charge was elevated to a Class B felony because the jury found that the amount was greater than $10,000, Nelson said.
A Class B felony carries a maximum 10-year sentence.
An investigation into Bartell’s business practices began after the state fire marshall investigated an alleged arson at Bartell’s Oakfield home on Spaulding Lake Road in September 2021, according to Fire Marshall Edward Hastings.
After lengthy interviews with Bartell, witnesses to the fire, friends, business associates, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Bartell’s wife and some of his contracting clients, Hastings said in his investigation report that Bartell was having financial difficulties and that neighbors were concerned about some of the workers he hired.
Additionally, one of Bartell’s clients, Barbara Robbins, said that he did not complete work on her home that she had paid for in advance.
According to court documents, on or before Feb. 1 and April 2, 2021, Robbins paid Bartell $20,000 for work that was not completed.
Bartell told a Bangor Daily News reporter before the three-day trial that this was a dispute between him and a client. He saw it as a civil matter, but Robbins went to the Maine State Police and he was charged, he said.
This case was initially somewhat of a puzzle, Aroostook County Assistant District Attorney Amanda Bridges said in her closing statement.
“All the pieces were there,” Bridges said. “At first glance it’s not really clear how they were all going to fit together. But in the last day and a half that we’ve been here, we’ve slowly been able to put the pieces together.”
Robbins found Bartell as a contractor on Angie’s List and hired him to do work on her basement because he seemed trustworthy, Bridges said. When Robbins believed he was going to complete the basement work, she signed a second contract with him for work on her deck and roof.
In the second contract, Bartell noted that Robbins still owed him $4,950 on the basement job and she gave him a check for $20,000 as a final payment on the basement job and a deposit for the continued work on her home, according to court documents.
“Mr. Bartell wants to confuse us. He wants to say he did work beyond what was in the contract and he’s owed money,” Bridges said.
The work on the basement was paid for in full and never completed, and the work on the deck and roof never started, she said.
“Instead of working with Barbara to get the work done, Mr. Bartell doubled down and stopped responding to Barbara in the summer of 2021 and he believes that he is entitled to the money he’s never earned,” Bridges told the jury.
Bartell’s attorney, Jeremiah McIntosh, said Bartell did not intend to defraud Robbins.
“The simple fact that he showed up with materials, with a crew week after week to do work clearly shows there was no intent to deprive her,” he said. “You are not being asked if he was moving fast enough.”
The contract was never completed because it was not paid in full, he said, adding that Bartell tried to meet with Robbins, but she cancelled the meeting and hired an attorney instead.
“The contract was $20,000 out of a $41,000 contract,” McIntosh said in his closing statement. “That’s a down payment.”
In response, Bridges said Bartell has been a contractor for 30 years and when he entered into a written agreement with Robbins, he knew the terms of the agreement would not be performed.
“You heard from Mr. Bartell that the basement job turned out to be much larger than he anticipated,” she said. “Someone with 30 years experience should have been able to estimate what it was going to cost. He did not even finish half the contract but he still took the $20,000.”
Bartell’s sentencing will be scheduled for February.