Time is ticking for AG to serve SWFL floor covering business owner disciplined by state

The Office of the Attorney General said it can’t find an unlicensed contractor it sued.

Christopher Pascale is no stranger to Southwest Florida or WINK News. We’ve been following complaints against him for three years, and in July, the attorney general filed suit against him.

They have been trying to serve Pascale now for months. They said they went to three different places and still can’t find him.

Now the Office of the Attorney General only has a few more months to get these papers in his hands.

Years after Amy Boczer said Chris Pascale destroyed her family’s Naples condo, she can’t believe she’s still fighting for justice.

“It just keeps going,” she said. “And it’s one thing after another. It’s so ridiculous to me”

In March, we told you about her family’s experience with Divine Design & Floor Covering, one of Pascale’s businesses.

They hired him to fix up their condo after Hurricane Irma, but Boczer says Pascale left them with more damage, and out about $7,500 for what was supposed to be a one-month-long project – which turned into an eight-month ordeal.

This summer, the Office of the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Pascale and another of his businesses, Bonita Springs Floor Covering Inc., and Bonita Springs Floor Covering and Remodeling LLC sued under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

The AG office says Pascale violated an agreement he reached with it in 2018, where he agreed to permanently refrain from making false or misleading representations to consumers, stop taking deposits or payments from consumers and provide accurate, truthful and non-misleading estimated delivery and installation times.

This lawsuit gave Boczer faith that Pascale’s run was coming to an end.

“He’s done this long enough,” Boczer said. “And he will start the new companies he will take people’s money with no intention of doing any work whatsoever. And everyone else is left picking up the pieces. That’s the destruction of Chris Pascale.”

But that faith turned to dissatisfaction and irritation because the Office of the Attorney General can’t find Pascale anywhere.

Court documents show a process server made several unsuccessful attempts at three different places in Lee and Collier counties.

And on all occasions, they were told Pascale was no longer there.

Since the deadline to serve him was last Friday the AG office asked for an extension and the court granted it.

WINK News called Pascale for comment but he didn’t answer and the voicemail box was full. We followed up with a text message that shows ‘delivered’, but still with no reply.

Boczer hopes this is all worth the lengthy process. “It’s extremely frustrating. But at the same time, I’m not giving up on this, and neither should the State Attorney’s General office or the sheriff’s department for that matter. Chris Pascal has hurt so many people has taken advantage of so many people. And he clearly just he has this blatant disrespect for other people’s property”

Now the Office of the Attorney General has until March 8, 2022, to get these documents in Pascale’s hands.

The Boczer family hopes this time, the office is successful.

At the time of publishing WINK News has still not heard back from Pascale.