One week after Irma, Big Pine Key residents return and start to rebuild
A week after Hurricane Irma devastated Big Pine Key near Marathon, Florida residents return and start to rebuild their homes on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.
A week after Hurricane Irma devastated Big Pine Key near Marathon, Florida residents return and start to rebuild their homes on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017.
A Miami man was sentenced to six months in jail for illegal contracting in the Florida Keys after Hurricane Irma.
Ulises Wiltz, 50, pleaded no contest to four charges of using a suspended certificate during a governor-declared state of emergency and two counts of grand theft by a contractor.
He bilked homeowners out of nearly $32,000.
On Sept. 12, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Mark Jones gave Wiltz 60 months of probation and ordered to pay restitution to his victims.
Wiltz portrayed himself as a state-licensed contractor — he wasn’t — and entered into contracts with homeowners on Duck Key, Grassy Key and in the Lower Keys, within a month and a half after Category 4 Hurricane Irma struck in September 2017.
He collected a portion of the money owed.
“In three of the four cases against him, he failed to start the work,” said Larry Kahn, spokesman for the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, said in a statement. “In one case, he started the work but did not finish it.”
On Sept. 4, 2017, then-Gov. Rick Scott declared a statewide state of emergency. Six days later, Irma left parts of the Keys in devastation.
In one case from October 12, 2017, Wiltz accepted a $7,770 deposit from a homeowner to replace a roof for $26,400.
But Wiltz’s roofing license had been revoked by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
On October 25, 2017, another homeowner gave Wiltz an $8,745 deposit on a roofing job.
On October 30, 2017, another homeowner gave Wiltz a $7,100 deposit for a new roof, the total cost of which was quoted as $23,850.
In another case, Wiltz collected an $8,170.50 deposit from a homeowner on November 27, 2017, to replace a roof for $27,235.
Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.
To verify a Florida contractor’s license, click here.