SANTA CLARA COUNTY — According to court documents, a second individual identified as 57-year-old Seung Taek Kye is wanted for scamming customers out of thousands of dollars for construction work that would never be completed.
Between July and August of 2014, Seung had contracted with a home owner to have the pavement and lighting replaced at a business. During that time more than $11,000 was collected to finish the job. After working for a short time the job was transferred to In Taek (Jack) Kye (48), who collected payment but failed to complete the job.
It seemed a bait-and-switch had taken place.
Sueng began working on the site after receiving the down payment on the job. Another payment was soon requested, shortly after which Sueng then left the job without any further work on the site. A down payment of only 10% under any contract license is required but because of the excessive amount requested, brought on by statement of lack of tools to work on the job.
The victim was persuaded to give more money in order to help buy the tools for Sueng to finish the job, but because Sueng was not a contractor or showed little intent on finishing the job, Sueng called the Santa Clara Sheriff’s Office who referred the female victim to file a complaint with the California State Contractors Licensing Board.
The Board determined that the pair had worked together to try and scam the victim out of thousands of dollars in construction fees.
The victim stated that they had a water filtration system service by employees from Woongin Coway Co. That is when the victim met Sueng, who said that he was a handyman and could do outdoor gardening and other work for the homeowner. The owner felt that they could trust him since he worked for such a large company.
The owner said they negotiated having a sidewalk replaced along with a brick wall and trees, and agreed on a price that they thought was fair. However, the work was continually abandoned by the suspect until Sueng demanded more money for the job. After being paid more than $8,900, Sueng failed to answer calls and abandoned the work all together.
In Taek said that he was surprised his brother had joined a contract with the homeowner. However, he said that because it was his brother, he wanted to help him and thus delivered tools for him.
However, In Taek did not want to work with investigators to have the work completed and failed to provide proof of a contractor’s license or show incentive to finish the work started. In Taek is currently awaiting the next court hearing for providing a contracting service without a license, while Sueng Taek is still sought by police.
In Taek is held on a no bail warrant for charges ranging from PC 484-487(a), Felony Grand Theft, Business and Professional Code 7028(a), engaging in business without a contractors business license, and Labor Code Section 3700.5(a), failure to provide workers compensation and insurance required by state employment laws.
The next court date has been set for January 06, 2015 in Dept 33 at 9:00 AM.
