Customer forced to pay for contractor's lies

FOX 2 (WJBK) - Poor Artimus Brintley. First a fire, then a burglary.

"He just let the guy in here and the guy came in here and cased the place and came back the next day and robbed it," said George.

Things got so bad for Artimus, he had to start a GoFundMe page.

"We took him to Home Depot and bought him some tools .... and he took those with him when he left," said Jodi, a customer.

What more could go wrong for sad ole' Art?

Wolchek: "Hi Artimus how are you? Rob Wolchek from FOX 2."

See, before you feel sorry for Artimus, a contractor who claims to be licensed and insured ...

Wolchek: "Don't you think that's misleading?"

Artimus: "No."

You should know that Artimus hasn't exactly been honest.

Wolchek: "Are you a licensed contractor?"

Artimus: "No."

"He is definitely a liar," says Jodi.

Hmmm,  Artimus ...  or con-Artimus?

Wolchek: "Dude, that's just a full-on lie. I mean, it says on your truck licensed and insured and you're not."

Jodi is a real estate broker who hired Artimus Building.

Wolchek: "How much money did you give him altogether?"

Jodi: "A little over $80,000."

She says Artimus said he and his "crew" could handle remodeling this house in Detroit and a house in Roseville.

But she found out the hard way Artimus didn't have much of a crew.

Artimus asked a guy walking around in the neighborhood to come inside Jodi's house in Detroit help him out with a few things.

According to the police report, Jodi filed, "Mr. Helper" came back later, broke in and started hauling off Jodi's new appliances. The burglary was captured on Jodi's security camera.

Also stolen: Artimus' tools.

So Artimus went on Channel 7 News here in Detroit, talking about "his" misfortune and started a GoFundMe page, and it worked.

"He got offered jobs, and work, and people donated tools," said CharlieBo313, Jodi's brother-in-law. "He made money from the GoFundMe and everything."

Charlie Bo313 helped Artimus publicize his plight on his YouTube page.

And Jodi says she took Artimus to Home Depot and bought him new tools to keep working. Tools she says, he kept even though he got more than $5,000 in donations.

Next, came the fire.

"That was just carelessness," Jodi's brother-in-law said. "He should know better than that."

"He left a heat gun plugged in and it was sitting on top of paint cans and paint thinner - on top of shims, a bag of shims, which is dry wood and paint rags, and it caught fire," Jodi said.

In the police report Jodi filed with the Detroit police alleging that he committed fraud, she says "Mr. Brintley's negligence also caused a fire at our property on 11/11/23 which resulted in $76,000 in damage."  

Jodi's new countertop and island were ruined. The flooring, ruined.

But Jodi wasn't too worried. Remember what it says right on Artimus' van? "Licensed and insured"

Wolchek: "You're thinking, he's insured. He's going to take care of this,  and then you found out."

Jodi: "We have no recourse."

Yep. Jodi says her insurance company found out that Artimus isn't insured.  According to Michigan Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, he's not a licensed builder either.

The Michigan State Police say his real name is Tyrone Artimus Brintley - and he's a convicted felon. He pleaded guilty to illegally carrying a concealed pistol in 2017.

But Jodi didn't fire the guy, Artimus owed her a lot of work. Work she says Artimus eventually just walked out on.

He blocked her on his phone, while her house in Detroit still has paint cans melted into the granite countertop among other damages. Her house in Roseville looks even worse inside.

Jodi and her husband filed police reports in Detroit and Roseville alleging they were victims of fraud.

The Detroit report states they "learned that the offender was neither insured or licensed."  

It goes on saying neither Jodi nor her husband "has been able to get in contact with the offender since then."  

In Roseville, the detective wrote in her report "I advised Jodi that Tyrone said he is licensed and insured."

So Artimus is apparently sticking to his story. In Roseville, they determined this was a civil case. The Detroit case is currently under investigation and no charges have been filed at this point.

None of this has stopped Artimus from looking for new customers. So, we invited him to a house in Warren to give his pitch - but instead, he's going to hear Wolchek's.

Wolchek: "So you let a guy inside the house to help you, kind of like the neighborhood crackhead or something?"

Artimus: "No, he wasn't a crackhead."

Okay, maybe he wasn't a crackhead, but he does certainly appear to be a thief. Here's the guy Artimus says he hired, carrying loot out of Jodi's house.

Video shows the guy climbing through a window and carrying the dishwasher out the door.

Wolchek: "It was kind of your fault that the guy came back and robbed the place, right?"

Artimus: "Not at all."

Wolchek: "No? What was his name?"

Artimus: "Samuel, I believe was his first name."

Wolchek: "Samuel?  Do you know his last name?"

Artimus: "Hmmm, not off the top of my head, no."

Wolchek: "Yeah. So you let a guy in to kind of help you - that you kind of hadn't vetted - into her house, who ended up coming back and robbing you?"

Artimus: "That's what a contractor does...."

Wolchek: "Hmmmm...?"

Artimus is sticking to his "poor me" story. The same one he told on Channel 7 - and on his GoFundMe page where raised more than $5,000 to buy new tools, even though he may not have needed them.

Wolchek: "You got money for your tools, but didn't Jodi buy you tools too?"

Artimus: "No. She only bought, what was it, a saw, like a table saw."

Here's the reciept Jodi gave Wolchek - there are tools on it and there is a table saw.

Wolchek: "So, did you ever give that back?"

Artimus: "Yes."

Wolchek: "You gave that back to her?"

Artimus "That's correct."

Then he says ...

Wolchek: "Why's she telling me the opposite of that?"

Artimus: "No, I didn't give her, her tools back."

Then there's the fire - the fire Jodi thought the contractor's insurance would cover.

Wolchek: "They say you started the fire."

Artimus: "And that's incorrect. We are insured."

Wolchek: "But you weren't insured at the time, correct?"

Artimus: "I believe it did lapse one week or so."

Wolchek: "Yeah but that was when the fire happened. So she had to eat the cost because you weren't insured. But you were the contractor right?"

Artimus: "The head contractor, but not the contractor that started the fire."

If Artimus actually had a contractor's license, he'd know. It's his contract. He's responsible for the whole project - and the subcontractors.

Wolchek: "Why don't you just get a contractor's license?"

Artimus: "I should. I could."

Could he? Remember he's got that firearm felony.

Artimus: "I never actually went to get my license for anything."

Wolchek: "Well why don't you, obviously you didn't have a license for the gun, either?"

Artimus: "That's correct."

Wolchek: "Did you bail out on the other job in Roseville or wherever that other house is?"

Artimus: "After I learned she was coming after me, yes. And then we owe her around $6,000 or something around those numbers."

Jodi says he owes her much more. But he admits he owes her $6,000. She would happily accept it, but ...

Wolchek: "You blocked her on the phone, right?"

Artimus: "Yes."

Wolchek: "why is that?

Artimus: "I was advised to."

Wolchek: "Whose advising you this stuff?  To me, if I was an attorney - and I'm not an attorney - but if I was your attorney, I'd be more like, 'Hey, you're running a contruction company, why don't you go get a contractor's license.'"

With that, Artimus walks out.

Wolchek: "You need to give that money back to Jodi and her husband."

Artimus: "You know I am."

Wolchek: "I don't know that you are. You're driving around in a truck that says 'Licensed and insured' and you're not."

Artimus, you don't strike Wolchek as being too 'smartimus.' You're in the Hhhhhhall of Shame!"

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