| For Immediate Release Case # 07CF3829 December 14, 2007 |
Contact: Farrah Emami Spokesperson Office: 714-347-8405 Cell: 714-323-4486 |
CONTRACTOR TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR TAKING
MORE THAN $670,000 FROM HOMEOWNERS AND
FAILING TO COMPLETE CONTRACTED PROJECTS
SANTA ANA – A fugitive contractor will be arraigned Monday on charges of taking more than $670,000 from homeowners to install sunrooms and failing to perform the work on the victims’ homes. Ira Jay Messing, 60, is charged with 15 felony counts of diversion of construction funds and one felony count of grand theft with sentencing enhancements and allegations for causing loss over $100,000, property damage over $150,000, and aggravated white collar crime over $500,000. If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of 17 years and four months in state prison.
Messing was arrested December 3, 2007 on a $1 million fugitive warrant in Wichita, Kansas, and waived extradition. He was brought back to Orange County yesterday, Thursday, December 13, 2007 and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, December 17, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
Between October 6, 2003 and December 23, 2005, Messing is accused of contracting with homeowners to install sunrooms in their homes through his business, Hall of Fame Design and Remodeling. He is accused of taking more than $670,000 from 15 homeowners. Messing is accused of doing little or no work on the projects for the victims’ homes and using the victims’ money to complete old contracts.
Messing is accused of closing Hall of Fame Design and Remodeling in December 2005 and filing for bankruptcy is February 2006.
Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche of the Major Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.
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