Gerety arraigned in Delaware for criminal theft and fraud

Rough week for Mr. Gerety.  In addition to the Attorney General in Pennsylvania bringing civil suit on behalf of multiple victims of his home renovation contractor scams, Gerety was charged criminally in the State of Delaware on multiple counts of theft and home improvement fraud after having been arrested in Maryland. 

Media reports indicate Gerety was arraigned in Delaware Superior Court on December 16 on five counts of theft and four counts of home improvement fraud. He appears to be out of custody and free on $20,000 bail.

According to anonymous posts to comments on this blog, Gerety may be staying at a Days Inn in Lancaster, PA and driving a Ford Explorer. Recent cell phone numbers are 443-365-3202 and 443-944-3838. 

In early December, this blog had confirmed Gerety had been arrested and held in Worcester County, Maryland near his oceanfront condo. 

Recent media reports:
12/20/2016 Delaware Business Now article by Doug Rainey
12/20/2016 ABC27 coverage by Miles Snyder
12/21/2016 Lancaster Online article by Dan Nephin
12/20/2016 WGAL Channel8 coverage by Brian Roche
12/21/2016 "Home Improvement Contractor Wanted in Two States"

Gerety sued by Pennsylvania Attorney General

BuildTrend and Shawn Gerety (aka Sean Gerety, Shawn T. Gerety) have been sued by the Attorney General of Pennsylvania.

12/20/2016

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Bruce R. Beemer today announced the filing of a consumer protection lawsuit against a Lancaster County company and its owner following allegations that the company accepted large sums of money from consumers for home improvement projects that were never completed. 

The lawsuit against Shawn Gerety and BuildTREND Construction LLC alleges violations of the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act and the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. The lawsuit is the result of an investigation conducted by the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Public Statement from the Attorney General

Read the complaint filed 12/14/2016 here:
Attorney General v Gerety/BuildTrend (Case. No 692 MD 2016) - Complaint

Docket sheet:
Commonwealth Court Case 692 MD 2016

Cottrell & Kelly sued by homeowner

While Cottrell awaits trial in Delaware County on January 2016 felony criminal charges relating to his actions as a home renovation contractor on a project for a Drexel Hill (PA) family, he and contractor John Kelly are also co-defendants in a civil lawsuit by a another Havertown (PA) customer.

Vince Cottrell (aka "Vincent Edward C.") and John Kelly (aka "Butch" and JD Kelly Corp.) have been defendants in a lawsuit filed in August 2016 by Jeff Marmon.  This Havertown homeowner alleges fraud, negligence and unfair trade practices and demands a jury trial in Delaware County:

Civil Complaint: Marmon v Cottrell & Kelly

Customers who know Gerety, Cottrell and the rest of their crew from when they were identifying themselves as BuildTrend would probably recognize many similarities to Marmon's story about Cottrell, Kelly and co:  foreman changes, failure to pay subcontractors, demands for additional money, threats of breach of contract, mechanics liens, denial of accountability and position at the company when the project ultimately goes wrong, etc.

Full proceedings in that case including the latest responses and motions are here:

Delaware County Case 2016-006677

As cases mount, victims who never saw their renovations started or completed are saying this doesn't look like poor business management by the contractors... Rather, this looks more and more like a deliberate business strategy to collect funds and NOT do the work.

Gerety arrested

Sean Gerety (aka Shawn Gerety) was recently arrested in Worcester County, Maryland on criminal charges related to his latest construction contracting business.

If any readers have more details or links to public information about Gerety's arrest, please send to buildtrendscam@gmail.com and we'll post to the blog.  As always, this blog posts factual information and defaults to protecting anonymity unless a contributor requests attribution.