Bosssier City, La. – A local domestic contractor featured in two investigation reports by KTBS this week is in jail.
Bossier City Police issued an arrest warrant for Richard Paul, 66, and he surrendered to authorities on Thursday. He was booked at the Bossier Maximum Security Facility and is held on a $45,000 bond.
South Bossier Parish House unfinished by Richard Paul’s Company.
KTBS 3 Investigates reporter TW Star has been investigating Paul and his business, People’s Choice Flooring & Remodeling, for the past few weeks. The investigation was intensified by complaints called by the audience about Paul’s business practices.
Homeowners scattered throughout ArkLaTex say that Paul and one of his contractors, Todd Coleman, were paid to repair the house, but they didn’t follow through. A Shreveport woman said she paid $74,000 to the company in July 2020. And a Kaushatta woman said she owed $30,000 in damages, while a plumber said Paul owed $7,000.
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Bossier City Police spokesman Lieutenant Bart Cavanaugh said Paul’s arrest came for not working for a landlord on Radbrook in South Bossier City. The landlord had damage from the storm and Paul estimated repairs at $112,000. The homeowner paid Paul an advance of $60,000.
It is alleged that Paul fell from the roof several times and caused more damage while doing housework. The house suffered further damage when another storm hit.
After several months of trying to get Paul to complete the job, the landlord filed a complaint with Bossier City Police. The homeowner told investigators that Paul admitted to not having the money to pay him back or to complete the work, Cavanaugh said.
Paul isn’t even allowed to do that kind of thing, Cavanaugh said. Paul is only permitted by the state to do nonresidential work up to a value of $70,000.
KTBS spoke to Paul on the phone twice. He canceled an on-camera interview scheduled for the morning. Starr made several trips to Paul’s office on Yuri Drive but no one was there.
Todd Coleman
Tommy Wimbley, one of the homeowners, who said he had paid Paul’s contractor, Coleman, $11,000, which was never done, recorded his conversation with Paul on his cell phone. Paul is recorded as saying that he was going to take care of the undone work at Wimbly’s house. Wimbly’s response: “You’ve been telling me for the past five months.”
Wimbly described Coleman as the “mastermind” behind the problems with the company and described Paul as a “contractor with a license to steal”.
As KTBS documented Thursday, Coleman is a convicted felon who has been convicted twice for home improvement fraud. He is ordered to pay more than $36,000 in damages to the two victims.
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Bossier City Police say any other landlord in the city who has unfinished work through contract with Paul or his company should contact them and file a report.
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