Crooked contractor slips through the cracks

DETROIT (FOX 2) - James Delmaro says he's a roofer and concrete guy, claiming he's in the neighborhood and can fix your roof, steps, bricks.

Residents in several Detroit neighborhoods were charmed out of their money with promises. This bad guy and his rolling band of helpers sweeps in, grab some cash and vanish.
       
And even though he's been caught and charged and convicted a bunch of times - he may have gotten away again.

Rob Wolchek started this story last fall. Delmaro was on probation, on an electronic tether. But he was still running the same roofing and asphalt scheme that he'd been convicted of.  

This guy has a knack for escaping justice - James Delmaro is a wanted man. A guy who's gotten away with cheating nice people, doing bad work and sometimes getting caught.

But time after time, he slips through the cracks, ready to roam the country again.

How's he get away with it?  You'll have to ask the people at the Michigan Department of Corrections, because they let him slip out of the state.

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The backstory:

"We just can't believe it," said Diana.

Diana is just one of several neighbors on Rogge Street in Detroit who got jacked by a guy named Jimmy.

"He was working on everybody at the same time," she said.

Everyone had received flyers and the next day, he showed up offering very reasonable prices to fix up their steps, check on their roofs.

Jimmy and his crew do a good job on one house and get that person to vouch for them. Pretty soon, he's got jobs up and down the street.

"I had some cracks in the foundation, that's what he did," Diana said.

Wolchek: "That's some sloppy-looking work."

"Yeah," she said. "And there was a crack in the sidewalk he was going to repair, and he kept saying he was going to come back."

Wolchek: "And he did that sloppy-looking thing on the milk (chute)?"

"Yeah."

Jimmy and his crew started rotten roofing and crummy concrete work up and down the block. On that one day, they collected more than $10,000, according to people in the neighborhood FOX 2 spoke with.

Most were so embarrassed they didn't want to go on camera.

"He never came back," Diana said.

Jimmie and his crew had moved on to Seminole Street across town.

Peronica hired him to do a bunch of fixes around her house.

The work was bad - like cracked cement left behind, but Jimmy promised he'd be back to finish.

"He texted me yesterday and told me he'd be here today," Peronica said. "But of course, he never showed up."

Peronica says Jimmy took $4,000 from her 90-year old father down the street to tear out and put in a new asphalt driveway, which never got done.  

Just like on Rogge Street, there were lots of embarrassed customers on Seminole Street as well.

Wolchek: "Did you get ripped off too?"

Resident: "Yes."

Wolchek: "Do you want to talk to me on camera?"

Resident: "No."

Jimmy took payment using cash apps with different recipients. But Peronica paid him with checks made out to James Delmaro totaling $8,700.  

And once Peronica googled James Delmaro, she found "Jimmy" with mugshots and all.

Jimmy, who goes by several different names, is a guy who's apparently spent his whole life traveling from one place to another, running this same scheme and sometimes getting caught.

In fact, last year, James Delmaro was charged in Detroit with running a criminal enterprise and 11 other felonies which could have gotten him locked up for 20 years.

But he ended up with a deal, pleading guilty to just two felonies right as Wolchek started working on the story.

He was placed on a GPS tether monitored by the Michigan Department of Corrections.  

Rob Wolchek thought since James Delmaro couldn't leave the state, he's going to get to confront him - or so he thought.

Wolchek went to the courthouse where he was convicted and watched the address listed in court documents as his home for days, but there was no sign of James.  

Wolchek sat by his probation office where he was supposed to check in twice a month. And even though the Department of Corrections said he was currently on his probation, he never saw the guy.

For months, Wolchek went on a bunch of wild goose chases where he saw roofers and trucks similar to the ones James Delmaro and his crew were seen in.

But he never saw the guy who ran off Rogge and scrammed from Seminole streets, leaving behind messy jobs people had paid thousands for.

Wolchek kind of got the feeling this guy had skipped town - even though he had an electronic tether.

Rob sent an email to the public information officer at the Michigan Department of Corrections.

The MDOC email says "James Delmaro has absconded and there is a warrant that has been issued for his arrest."

And a few days later Wolchek got this email back, Delmaro had dodged the system.

Wolchek has contacted the Department of Corrections several times to get an explanation on how a guy on a tether, who's supposed to go to probation twice a month disappeared.  

They have not responded. Here's where you come in. Wolchek wants to get this guy.

These stories have a way of being seen all over the country and somewhere, James Delmaro is probably working a neighborhood.

He's got warrants in Michigan. If you see him, contact the police wherever you are and hopefully, he'll get picked up and brought back here, where Wolchek can see him in court.

Crime and Public SafetyDetroit