She works professionally investigating fraud cases and was a victim of it herself. While Cassie Kieffer hopes she and her husband might one day see some of the money they invested in the construction of a pool they never received returned to them, she hopes changes in state law will protect others from similar heartache.
Kieffer and her family are among two New Prague area families who contend they were defrauded by a person who took $75,000 under the promise he would build an inground pool. The couple paid him $25,000 in cash and took out a home equity line of credit for $75,000 to pay for the pool he promised to build for $100,000. The contractor, Charles Ray Workman, is the subject of a fourcount criminal indictment including fraudulent interstate wire transmissions of checks from four different victims totaling $114,679 between July 29, 2021, and May 11 of 2022. He is scheduled for a court appearance Monday, April 10, in U.S. Federal Court in St. Paul.
At this point, Kieffer wants legislation passed requiring contractors who build and install in-ground pools to be licensed through the state so potential customers can check on them and so their work can be verified by inspectors. Because companies installing pools are currently not licensed by the state, Kieffer and other victims don’t qualify for relief from a fund protecting victims of fraud.
Kieffer wants Workman held accountable. She wants to see him...
To see more on this story pick up the April 6, 2023 print edition of The New Prague Times.
New Prague woman aims to warn others of the possible fraud
