{"id":68582,"date":"2024-11-07T10:16:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T18:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=68582"},"modified":"2024-11-07T10:16:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T18:16:54","slug":"ventura-county-sting-operation-uncovers-12-unlicensed-contractors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=68582","title":{"rendered":"Ventura County Sting Operation Uncovers 12 Unlicensed Contractors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"m_1494595899386455576xxmsonormal\"><b>Sacramento, CA<\/b>\u00a0<b>\u2013<a name=\"m_1494595899386455576_x_x__Hlk94003902\"><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>The Contractors State License Board (CSLB), in partnership with the California Department of Insurance and Ventura County District Attorney\u2019s Office, held an undercover sting operation in Fillmore targeting unlicensed contractors.<\/p>\n<p>The two-day operation on October 23-24 resulted in 12 individuals receiving notices to appear in criminal court for allegedly contracting without a license. The individuals placed bids ranging from $800 for flooring work to $10,300 for a painting, all without a valid contractor\u2019s license. California law mandates that any contractor advertising or contracting for work valued at $500 or more (including labor and materials) must be licensed. These individuals advertised their services without disclosing their unlicensed status.<\/p>\n<p>Consequences for unlicensed contracting in California are severe, with penalties reaching up to $15,000 in administrative fines, misdemeanor charges, potential jail time of up to six months, and criminal fines as high as $5,000. Repeat offenders face escalated penalties, including a mandatory 90-day jail sentence and a fine of $5,000 or 20 percent of the contract value \u2013 whichever is greater.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_1494595899386455576xxmsonormal\">\u00a0<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_1494595899386455576xxmsonormal\">The sting also revealed that two individuals requested excessive down payments before starting work. California law restricts contractors from asking for more than 10 percent of the project cost or $1,000, whichever is less. Demanding more is a misdemeanor, punishable by fines up to $5,000 and\/or up to a year in county jail.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;CSLB is dedicated to protecting homeowners from the risks of unlicensed contractors,&#8221; said David Fogt, CSLB Registrar. &#8220;We encourage consumers to verify a contractor&#8217;s license before starting any construction project in California, as it\u2019s a simple step to help safeguard their investment.&#8221;<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_1494595899386455576xxmsonormal\">\u00a0<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_1494595899386455576xxmsonormal\">CSLB will continue to work with law enforcement agencies across the state to address unlicensed contracting in its consumer protection efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sacramento, CA\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The Contractors State License Board&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68583,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68582\/revisions\/68583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}