Three Rivers Decks owner charged again in Cecil
Matthew Walker, owner of Three Rivers Decks and Porches, was charged with another two counts of home improvement fraud out of Cecil Township this week.
The 29-year-old McDonald man has been facing similar charged in numerous cases throughout Washington and Allegheny counties.
The most recent charges filed Wednesday stem from a job that Walker had been contracted for in November. Bernadette Vavrek hired him to build a vinyl deck and railing on the back of her townhouse on Deer Creek Crossing Drive. The $7,670 project was supposed to start that month and take about three or four weeks, according to the criminal complaint.
The project was never completed, according to the complaint’s narrative, which mirrors the narratives in the many other cases filed against Walker. In 10 months, only “minimal” work was done to Vavrek’s deck, including framework. Her deck still needs a floor, a railing, the vinyl decking and parts of the siding, the complaint said.
Vavrek, who now lives in Connecticut, tried many times to contact Walker, but “he either does not return calls or makes up various reasons why the work has not been completed,” the complaint said. Vavrek provided Walker with a check for $7,824 in December, court documents state.
The investigator, Detective James Brose with Cecil Township police, charged McDonald with giving a false statement to induce agreement and receiving advance payment for services not performed.
“This is the same scam Three Rivers Decks and Porches have been doing all over Western Pennsylvania,” Brose wrote in the complaint. “They collect money up front, do a very minimal amount of work and do not finish the job, and they do not refund any money.”
In this specific case, Walker was arraigned Thursday morning by District Judge Jesse Cramer and released on $5,000 unsecured bond.
Walker filed for bankruptcy earlier this month and, according to the state attorney general’s office, he no longer holds an active contractor’s registration. It was deactivated in May, according to a spokesperson in the attorney general’s office. The spokesperson also said the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection has received 22 complaints regarding Three Rivers Decks and Porches.