Unlicensed contractor found guilty; ordered to pay up

After months in jail, Christopher Pascale will shed his jailhouse orange jumpsuit soon. He paid the Boczer family $10,000. Now, the court has ordered him to pay them nearly $35,000 more and placed him on probation for a year.

While many still try to recover from Ian, we have one home repair nightmare that dates back to Irma. But the victims never gave up.

Collier County Judge Rob Crown read a statement on the family’s behalf in court Wednesday. It read: “It is my hope that what my family has gone through directly at your hands for the past four years pursuing this case even as you purposely tried to evade authorities is that wake-up call that we won’t give up, now or ever. This case has proven that there are consequences to your actions.”

“Today was a good day. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go considering everything we’ve been through over the last four years,” Amy Boczer told WINK News Consumer Investigator Andryanna Sheppard.

WINK News first told you about the victims’ experience with Divine Design & Floor Covering, one of Pascale’s businesses years ago.

They hired him in 2019 to fix up their condo after Hurricane Irma damaged it. They paid him about $7,500 for what was supposed to be a one-month project. They said it cost them thousands more to fix the mess he created.

“I felt that he thought he was going to wiggle out of this and we were going to keep after it,” explained Boczer.

Boczer and her sister have flown down from Connecticut for court for years. But Pascale wouldn’t show.

So, Judge Crown issued a warrant for Pascale’s arrest in September. He was captured in November and held without bond.

Several court dates and years later, the Boczer’s are finally closing this chapter of their lives.

“I’m excited about the judgment and how the case played out,” stated Boczer. “Hopefully he really takes this to heart. There are consequences and people are going to hold him accountable finally”

Pascale’s lawyer said no comment when asked about the outcome of the case.

While the Boczer’s can put this court case behind them, their Irma-damaged condo is still under construction.