Woman hires Guatemalans for $10,000 roof replacement job, then calls ICE on them to get out of paying the bill

[Miles Archer]

American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick reacted in horror on Thursday to an allegation that a woman in Maryland hired a team of Guatemalan contractors to redo her roof at an expense of $10,000, waited until they were done — then called Immigration and Customs Enforcement on them to try to get out of paying the bill.

The X account that posted a video of the alleged incident stated, "Woman even provides the ladder used by agent to detain men — who she owes $10,000 for 3 day job. 'She called the damn law on us and now we're totally screwed!' men yell in Spanish. 'They surrounded us! — They surrounded us!' Agents even left behind the workers' van with doors wide open — filled with thousands of dollars worth of tools. The arrest was broadcast live for about 30 minutes by a co-worker — identified as Bryan Polanco."

Polanco's video included the woman who hired them, "Tidying up the house, and still with hatred in her heart."

According to Reichlin-Melnick, if the allegations in the post are correct, the homeowner could be facing serious felony charges.

https://www.rawstory.com/ice-roofers/

LongTime🤓FirstTime👨‍💻
@LongTimeHistory
Homeowner waits until construction job is nearly done—then calls ICE on 6 of her own workers.

Woman even provides the ladder used by agent to detain men—who she owes $10,000 for 3 day job.

"She called the damn law on us and now we're totally screwed!" men yell in Spanish. "They surrounded us!—They surrounded us!"

Agents even left behind the workers' van with doors wide open—filled with thousands of dollars worth of tools.

The arrest was broadcast live for about 30 minutes by a co-worker—identified as Bryan Polanco.

"Seeing it is not the same as experiencing it," he explains.

"I’ve seen many videos, and sadly today I had to experience it."

At the end of the video he gets the woman who called ICE on camera: "It is the same woman. Tidying up the house, and still with hatred in her heart."

The incident occurred in Cambridge, Maryland.

Link to tweet

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Evil

This woman is evil and her neighbors need to let her know how they feel about her. Make her life hell. She shouldn't be able to walk in public without being yelled at going forward.

[orleans]

36. and on that note: here's a couple more tweets

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Johnny2X2X]

39. I hope her life is ruined over this

The way she ruined the lives of others to steal $10K from them.

This is how evil Republicans are. They deserve no sympathy when bad things befall them. I hope she loses her job, and is forced to move. I hope she loses everything.

[Ruby the Liberal]

48. Weather.com's 21613 page today is giving me life

Rain followed by strong rain followed by more rain.

One can only hope this unfinished roof has wood/structural damage from the bad shingles, which may explain the truck with the boards stacked up.

[Ferrets are Cool]

2. This is so fucking maddening.

:mad
Edit: I wish someone would file a complaint on her because she knowingly hired "illegal aliens". Isn't that supposed to be against the law????

[Walleye]

31. She stiffed them on their wages that is definitely against the law

[C Moon]

35. I hope she gets fined $100,000 and has to work in soup kitchens for a year.

[Volaris]

42. Youre a better soul than i am...ill for sure get banned if i dont stop right now and go outside.

And i mean ALL of 'the words'.

[UpInArms]

3. Evil person

[marble falls]

4. The orange groves in Arizona and the beef processors in Iowa were notorious for that. They should have been ...

... arresting the business owners.

[markodochartaigh]

6. Very common in Texas too.

Although I worked for Iowa Beef Processors in Amarillo and this was one trick that they did not pull.

[travelingthrulife]

15. Much more efficient to arrest those hiring them. Most of these bogus arrests

would not have happened.

We would get real guest worker laws that are functional almost immediately.

[enough]

5. A special place in hell.......

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Theft of Services

Arrest HER

Prosecute HER

Convict HER

[underpants]

10. From the article. I hope they bust her.

"Very serious and disturbing allegation about a homeowner calling ICE on people working on her roof to avoid having to pay them," he wrote. "While the facts aren’t fully in yet, if the allegation is true it seems that this would be a felony under Maryland law."

Reichlin-Melnick posted the relevant statute of Maryland Criminal Law Code, which states, "A person may not obtain, attempt to obtain, or conspire to obtain money, property, labor, services, or anything of value from another person with the person's consent, if the consent is induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened ... notification of law enforcementofficials about another person's undocumented or illegal immigration status."

[Chakaconcarne]

8. Out her

Let her deal with the irate public

[underpants]

9. That's some grade A prime F'ed up shit

[Wuddles440]

11. Heartbreaking!

The MAGA scum have truly exposed the vastness of the rotten underbelly of our society.

[MustLoveBeagles]

12. I can't post what I think of this person

[Passages]

13. And she calls herself a human being.

Criminal.

[Dave Bowman]

14. Wow, what a despicable pos. 😡

[jrthin]

16. EVIL!!!!

[DFW]

17. Even if they were all card-carrying members of some drug cartel

What she did was still grand larceny and she deserves to do
five years for it.

[Jacson6]

18. It was a nice try by this lady.

But the owner of the company is a naturalized American. He is going to put a construction lien on the house. Depending on the State he may be able to move have the house being foreclosed on and sold at auction. I worked in the construction industry 30 years ago and licensed contractors would do this. YMMV. IME. IMHO.

[IbogaProject]

22. I don't know if Maryland is a "one action" state

But if it isn't suing for fraud and trebble (tripple) damages might also be an option. The standard for that would be if the actions "would shock the conscience of a regular person".

[Zackzzzz]

34. You should read about Trump Towers and his Polish Brigade.

I hope you're right and these hard working guys get their money with penalties.

[MichMan]

40. Won't the owner face charges for hiring the undocumented workers?

[CTyankee]

19. What kind of human being does this?

I cannot understand deliberate cruelty. I know I am being naive. But going out of your way to treat other people this way is sick. There is something deeply wrong with this woman.

[progressoid]

20. That roof doesn't look nearly done.

It looks like they were just starting. New shingles wouldn't be stained and worn like that.

Something is missing from this story.

[Ruby the Liberal]

47. ICE got there faster than she expected?

Or she was acting like an ass and they just kept telling her "almost finished"?

That truck parked out front is also full of wood. One can only hope she had structural/moisture damage on top of the bad shingles.

Because MD is about to be deluged in rain over the next few days.

[JT45242]

21. Could she be charged with fraud? She did not intend to pay

In a just world, she would be going to jail.

Paying the $10k plus damages.

[ananda]

23. I wish they'd gotten the money in advance...

though even that might not have stopped her.

I really have a hard time mentally seeing people
do things like this.

[appleannie1]

24. We can probably bet money on what party she belongs to.

[Mblaze]

25. She learned from Trump

[Bengus81]

26. The roof isn't finished, hope someone charges her $10,000 just to finish

[Martin Eden]

27. She has earned a special place in HELL.

And if Hell does not exist, then hopefully that bitch will learn that KARMA is a bitch.

[pandr32]

28. Copycat crimes will be incoming if she is not criminally charged.

[malaise]

29. Is this...ahem...

Slave labor?

[Marthe48]

30. Sums up greed

Get all you can without giving anything in return

[AverageOldGuy]

32. Be a real shame . . .

. . . if the goddam house burned to the ground

[Ilsa]

44. I wonder if the security she's going to have to hire will require

payment up front?

[ChicagoTeamster]

33. This is common in red states. In Ohio there was a farm that hired workers who all lived in a hotel for the season

When it came time for them to get back their $1000 security deposit from the hotel and collect their final paycheck, the Farm owner and Hotel owner called immigration.

[Kingofalldems]

37. This is a felony in Maryland I understand.

She in big trouble.

[TexasBushwhacker]

50. She has been arrested n/t

[niyad]

38. Years ago, there was an asshole in NM who did things like that, except

he owned a construction company. Everybody knew he did it, nobody in a position of proper authority stopped him. And then someone told me about him, as I was new to the state. Some time later, I was given to understand that he had had a "come to jesus" moment, and retired. One scum down, millions to go!

[MichMan]

41. How are employers that follow the law, provide benefits to workers, and pay taxes & workman's comp able to compete....

...fairly with competitors that pay under the table, provide no benefits and evade paying payroll taxes and workman's comp? Must be discouraging to lose bid after bid to competitors who are breaking the law and thus able to underbid.

[Bettie]

43. How is that relevant to this case?

It wasn't a competitor who reported them, it was the woman who didn't want to pay for the work that was done.

She chose this crew so she could get the materials and the work for free. That's it.

There is another conversation to be had, but not in this particular case. She was looking to screw people over.

[leftyladyfrommo]

45. Sounds just like something Trump would do and then

call it smart business.

[Ruby the Liberal]

46. Dear Universe, please let this roof be permeable

Video seems to suggest that they weren't anywhere near finished.

With all the rain coming through the area, that would be glorious.

Added bonus - she better find a MAGAt willing to work for $10k or less as no one in the region is going to take the job knowing she is grifting contractors.

[applegrove]

51. Sick!

[AndrewFoster]

52. Cost comparison between maintaining a roof like cleaning and replacement.

That’s just awful if that’s really how it happened. Stories like this are also a reminder of how expensive full roof replacement can be compared to simply keeping a roof maintained before it gets to that point. I recently read a breakdown of roof cleaning cost vs replacement, and the difference was huge regular cleaning is obviously a lot cheaper than waiting until moss, debris, and damage turn into a major roofing bill.

If more homeowners stayed on top of maintenance, they’d probably avoid a lot of these $10k+ situations in the first place.