March 18, 2016 at 4:50 p.m.
Park Falls contractor draws year in jail for defrauding couple
Park Falls contractor draws year in jail for defrauding couple
Daniel E. Schmitt, 46, owner of Advanced Cleaning of Park Falls, was charged Oct. 31, 2013 with theft in a business setting (over $10,000) and two counts of forgery.
Schmitt pled no contest to the theft in a business setting charge April 30. The forgery charges, which were originally filed in Price County and eventually incorporated into the Oneida County case, and the remaining Oneida County charges were dismissed but read in for purposes of sentencing.
Schmitt was given almost a month to raise $10,000 for restitution but he failed to show up for his May 26, 2015 sentencing hearing before circuit judge Michael Bloom.
Schmitt was arrested on an Oneida County warrant Jan. 8 in Los Angeles. He was returned to Oneida County and appeared before Bloom Jan. 26. At that hearing, Bloom revoked Schmitt's bond and set a March 17 sentencing date.
According to the complaint, Schmitt accepted $225,965.25 to restore the couple's home after a Sept. 27, 2012 fire damaged part of it. Instead of completing the work, Schmitt allegedly used some of the money to pay the overdue bills on other projects as well as to pay personal expenses.
In early April of 2013 various building supply companies in the area started contacting the couple for payment for materials either already supplied or ordered and not paid for.
The alleged victims contacted the sheriff's department in early October 2013 to report that the work was not anywhere near complete.
At Friday's hearing, the couple gave victim impact statements before sentencing. The wife said the couple is "still living in a house that is two-thirds of the way done." She said she and her husband have had to do a lot of work on the house, such as the electrical and plumbing, by themselves because they cannot afford to hire anyone else to fix what Schmitt didn't finish.
Near the end of her statement, the woman looked directly at Schmitt, referred to other people he is accused of defrauding, and asked "How can you live with yourself?"
The husband said he became suspicious of Schmitt before his wife did but agreed to give him more time to complete the work. He also told the judge how they have struggled to make the house more livable on their own.
"We're living in it," he said. "Is it finished? It's a long way from finished. It's kind of a nightmare."
District attorney Michael Schiek told Bloom he has been frustrated over the course of the case as Schmitt has repeatedly asked for more time to arrange to pay restitution. He added his frustration was exacerbated because he had to continually tell the victims they had to remain patient.
"Over the last three years, they have endured a lot," Schiek said. "It's incredible that they have made it this far."
Although Schmitt was able to raise $10,000, which his attorney Gary Cirilli paid to the DA's office on Wednesday, he still owes the couple over $215,000, and more money to the various suppliers he failed to pay on the project.
While Schmitt has no prior criminal record, Schiek argued the magnitude of the crime calls for some prison time, even if it delays his ability to pay restitution.
Cirilli said Schmitt was a well-respected businessman whose company was sought out by insurance companies to restore homes and business after fires, floods and other disasters. He was urged by some of insurance companies to do both restoration and reconstruction services, his lawyer said, but he struggled to handle the added responsibilities.
He said he doesn't see Schmitt "as a career criminal" and added "the only chance the (victims) have that they will ever be repaid is if he is given a jail sentence and long-term probation."
Given his chance to speak to the court directly, Schmitt told Bloom "this is the worst three years of my life."
He also apologized directly to the victims, saying he did not go to their house intending to defraud them. "I was in over my head," he said.
Bloom agreed with Cirilli that this is a difficult case. He said the problems Schmitt got into would have been avoided if he had put the money into a trust account just for that job, as contractors are required to do by statute. This makes it more difficult for a contractor to use funds from one job to pay for costs in other jobs.
As for Cirilli's contention that Schmitt got out of his debt when he added reconstruction services, Bloom was not so sympathetic.
"It was not humility that caused you to expand your business," the judge said. "It was something else."
And although Schmitt went to California for work in the restoration business, that money never made it back to the victims and he skipped out on his original sentencing hearing.
"When you went out to California, there was never a scenario where you did not have to be back in this courtroom for your sentencing," Bloom said.
In the end, Bloom said that giving Schmitt every possible opportunity to work and earn money toward restitution for the victims drove his sentencing decision. He gave Schmitt a one-year jail term, the longest possible, with Huber privileges and 10 years probation.
Schiek was given 60 days to submit a list of those entitled to restitution, with the homeowners being first on the list. If he objects to any part of the list, Cirilli will have 30 days to file a rebuttal.
Among those seeking restitution is the sheriff's department which is seeking $2,200, the cost of sending deputies to Los Angeles to bring Schmitt back to Rhinelander.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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