Unlicensed Contractor Gets Year in Jail
A San Fernando man who worked as an unlicensed contractor and charged two Valley homeowners for work he never did was sentenced to a year in jail, Los Angeles City Atty. James Hahn said in a statement Friday.
Hector Perez Lopez, 44, pleaded no contest to doing business as HLR Contractor Services without a license. Lopez was also ordered by Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Mitchell Block to pay a Northridge homeowner $3,404 and a Reseda homeowner $500 in restitution, according to the city attorney’s office.
The Reseda resident complained to state regulators, saying Lopez tore up his driveway without replacing it, damaged a fence and removed an old bathroom heater without replacing it.
Lopez was arrested in August 1997 in connection with the case, the city attorney’s office said, and criminal charges were pending against him when he was hired by a Northridge woman to do masonry work at her home in January.
She told police she paid Lopez $715, but that he never completed the job.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
