Man accused of unlicensed contracting arrested after hiding in woods

Christopher Pascale, who missed his trial date twice and had a warrant out for his arrest, is behind bars in Collier County. Pascale is accused of contracting without a license and performing work without permits.

Court documents say a deputy found Pascale in a wooded area next to a Naples gated community.

Now, he’ll sit in jail at least until his next court date because the judge did not give him a bond, and no one is happier to hear he’s stuck in jail than the family at the center of this case.

After years of waiting for justice, Amy Boczer can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The man she says destroyed her family’s Naples condo and constantly avoided police and trial dates is finally in jail.
Boczer found out Wednesday morning; Pascale was arrested Tuesday night.

“I was beside myself thrilled that this was such a long time coming,” Boczer said.

According to court documents, Pascale, accused of contracting without a license, knew there was a warrant out for his arrest but had been hiding to avoid the handcuffs.

Documents reveal a Collier County deputy learned Pascale was at the Forest Park community in Naples on Tuesday, so the deputy parked himself at the community’s exit and waited.

Shortly after, he saw Pascale walk into the woods in a shirt and shorts but no shoes. He took him to jail.

“It was just that sense of relief that he was finally caught,” Boczer said.

Years ago, Wink News told you about the Boczer family’s experience with Divine Design & Floor, one of Chris Pascale’s contracting businesses.

They hired him in 2019 to fix their condo after Hurricane Irma damaged it.

They paid him about $7,500 for what was supposed to be a one-month project, but the Boczer family said it would cost them thousands more to fix the mess he created.

“This scam that he’s been doing for so long, and a scam that he’s been told to you by the court system and so forth to stop, and he still has chosen not to. He’s disregarded that,” Boczer said.

Boczer and her sister have flown down from Connecticut for court hearings and trial for years.

For each of those trials, Pascale didn’t show, so Judge Rob Crown issued a bench warrant in September.

In the courtroom Wednesday, Pascale’s new lawyer tried to explain why he didn’t show up in the past because he was in the hospital each time, but the judge has heard this excuse more than once from Pascale and didn’t buy it.

“If you believe you can, in good faith, file a motion and argue that he was in the hospital, then that’s fine. You can file that motion and set it for a hearing in front of me. I can tell you that I will subpoena that doctor to come in and testify to whether he was actually in the hospital at that time, so there’s no bond,” Crown said.

Now, Boczer is hopeful her family is one step closer to putting Irma behind them, and Pascale’s run is nearing its end.

“Hopefully, no other family person in the community has to go through this,” Boczer said.

Pascale’s next court date is on November 29.

The Boczer’s plan to be there.