Police: Unlicensed contractor arrested for fraud after failing to work on Orange County home

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County family is out thousands of dollars after hiring a contractor they say never finished the work promised.

But their complaints to the state landed the contractor behind bars, facing two felony charges.

Court records show he was never licensed to be a contractor in the county or the state.

The add-ons and improvements to the Orange County home are now complete—but not by the hands of Rodrigo Correia.

“He says he'll come back and never come back,” said Abdul Basit.

Basit said he hired Correia for a construction job on his home in 2016 and by the end of 2017, not even a fraction of the work was done.

But he said the excuses and requests for more payments were consistent.

"To me, it's every day: ‘I need this, I need this.  I've done this.  I've done this.’  It's all B.S.," said Basit.

In all, Basit said he paid Correia nearly $30,000.

"He tried to get as much money as he can but I stopped paying him.  I said I can't pay him anymore,” said Basit.

Basit said he trusted Correia because he was a regular customer at his Orlando 7-Eleven and showed him pictures of previous construction work.

Plus, Correia had registered a business with the state under the name RC7 Construction.

But his arrest affidavit shows investigators would later learn not only was Correia not a licensed contractor in Orange County—he wasn’t even licensed to do construction work in Florida.

Correia is out on bail, facing grand theft, fraud and contracting without a license charges.

Cox Media Group