Unlicensed Contractor Is Sentenced
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VAN NUYS — A Canoga Park man who posed as a licensed contractor to perform post-earthquake repairs was sentenced Thursday to 20 days of community service work on a Caltrans crew.
Augustin Serrano, 33, was sentenced by Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Harold S. Vites after Serrano pleaded no contest to working as an unlicensed contractor. Vites also placed Serrano on two years’ probation.
“I believe this is the first sentence” resulting from sweeps and sting operations conducted in the wake of the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake, said Deputy City Atty. Ruth Kwan.
Los Angeles police officers arrested Serrano Feb. 3 as he worked on a block wall in the yard of a quake-damaged home in the 18300 block of Chatsworth Street in Granada Hills.
The property owner did not ask that Serrano be sentenced to jail or request jail time or restitution because he felt the work Serrano performed was up to code, according to Kwan.
Serrano was among several workers issued citations during a sweep.
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