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Handyman gets four years for bilking clients
By: North County Times Wire Service | ∞
VISTA -- An Escondido man who sold himself as a Christian handyman to gain the confidence of fraud victims, most of them senior citizens, was given four years in prison Wednesday for bilking people for repair jobs.
William Pitre, 47, pleaded guilty in July to theft from an elder, residential burglary and misdemeanor contracting without a license.
Separately, he admitted to assault with a deadly weapon for cutting his girlfriend on the neck with a 9-inch blade.
Pitre got customers in 2006 by leaving fliers on the windshields of vehicles near churches, among other places.
"For In God We Trust, Save this flyer for 50% off," the top line said.
Nikke Shelton, one of victims, tried to set Pitre straight when given a chance to address the defendant.
"To steal in the name of God is a terrible thing, buddy," he said.
According to the county Probation Department, Shelton hired Pitre to pressure wash and paint his tile roof and driveway, but the work was done so poorly that it cost $4,000 to fix.
Pitre took $63,000 for a job that included expanding a basement, the probation report said, but he never finished the work, and the homeowners paid someone else $10,000 to complete the project.
Judge K. Michael Kirkman told Pitre to repay the victims a total of about $98,000. It was unclear if he had the means to do so.
In the assault case, Pitre and girlfriend Yolanda O'Campo began drinking beer about 8 a.m. June 4.
Later, Pitre was trimming weeds with a kitchen knife, and O'Campo came up behind him to take a photograph, startling him. He swung at her with the knife and cut her on the neck, according to Pitre's probation report.
"What he did to me was an accident," O'Campo told the judge as part of her victim's statement. "He's not a violent person."
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