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Lawsuit filed by state against paver who stole from local seniors

Attorney General cites shoddy work, demands refund
Posted at 2:35 PM, Apr 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-27 14:57:27-04

The Ohio Attorney General filed a lawsuit against a contractor previously convicted of stealing from Cincinnati-area seniors.

Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County against James Boswell, a paver the WCPO I-Team first told you about in the summer of 2016.

The lawsuit calls for Boswell to pay restitution to customers he deceived and pay a $25,000 fine for violating consumer sales standards.

In November, Boswell pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to five years of probation; one year is community control supervision, four years are basic probation. Boswell must also complete behavioral health corrective thinking classes, and a drug and alcohol assessment.

As part of his sentence, the judge also instructed him not to consume drugs or alcohol. The judge said Boswell tested positive for heroin during his sentencing investigation.

A criminal background check revealed that Boswell has faced cases in at least five states from New York to Kentucky over the past decade. In Pennsylvania alone, court records show Boswell faced 54 charges including theft by deception and deceptive business practices before paying restitution to have the charges dropped.

He has repaid victims a total of more than $55,000 during the past decade, avoiding jail in several cases.

In Kentucky, charges were dropped against Boswell in June of 2016 after he repaid 74-year-old victim Helen Trautwein $4,000 of the $7,500 he was accused of taking from her after doing questionable work on her driveway.

Read the full lawsuit below:

2017.04.27 Boswell Complaint by Marais Jacon-Duffy on Scribd