IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) — One day after Target 8 exposed a contractor accused of preying on an Ionia couple, prosecutors charged him with operating without a residential builder’s license.
If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Dennis Upton, 24, could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and/or face a fine of $5,000 to $25,000.
A mug shot of Dennis Upton from the Ionia County Jail. (April 2017)
Records show Upton has posted a $2,500 bond. A court date is pending.
The charge stems from a botched roofing job that was the subject of a Target 8 alert last week.
Randy and Denise Shattuck hired Upton Quality Construction out of Potterville to rebuild their roof in January after posting the job on Facebook. Five weeks into the job that was supposed to take four days, the Shattucks paid Upton in full, giving him $11,000. That’s when Upton disappeared, leaving behind a mess of shingles, nails and trash.
“If it wasn’t for my faith, I don’t know where I’d be,” Denise Shattuck told Target 8 through tears. “Because I have so much anger towards him and his company, it’s not funny.”
When Upton wouldn’t respond to the Shattucks’ repeated calls, they called Target 8 and Ionia’s building inspector. The inspector told the Shattucks that Upton hadn’t pulled the required permits and, after examining the roof, he determined it the work wasn’t built to code.
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