After paying nearly $100,000 for a new deck and landscaping and never hearing from the contractor again, Angola resident Betty Barney said she soon learned dozens of other homeowners in the area had similar experiences. She was happy to hear that police were searching for Frank Stiles Oct. 7. He turned himself in later that day, and now faces multiple felony charges for defrauding customers of over $1.5 million, police say. Those numbers could rise.

“It’s about time. We paid $97,000 and he never finished the job,” Barney said. “It ended up costing $150,000 to finish everything.”

Barney is one of more than 40 residents who created an email chain last spring to share their home improvement nightmares. Several of them also reached out to the Attorney General’s Office and Delaware State Police to file claims.

After months of headaches, frustration and pleas for help, they finally got welcome news Oct. 5, when Delaware State Police posted a wanted alert for Frank Stiles, 51, of Millsboro.

Stiles was wanted in connection with multiple home improvement fraud and related charges. 

Heather Hellens of Lewes said Stiles has a Justice of the Peace trial scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9.

She sued him for $18,000 after he took her money to install a pool, but never did.

“We had a contract but when we started asking for specifics, it would go on and on,” she said. “He’d come over and take measurements, and try to make us feel better.”

By February, Hellens said, Stiles asked for another $20,600, and that’s when she ended the relationship.

“He’s a mess,” she said. “I feel like he robs Peter to pay Paul.”

In August, the Hellens’ JP Court trial against Stiles was continued over questions about whether an outside arbiter or the court should proceed. By September, Stiles had filed for bankruptcy – one of 31 court actions filed against him and his company since 2004. Company names connected to Stiles include Heron Creek Landscape and Pools, All Stiles Landscaping, Stiles Construction Inc., and Stiles Landscape Construction. Police said Stiles is also known as Frank Smith.

Hellens’ trial will continue Wednesday, Oct. 9, but only against Stiles’ company, the Stiles Group LLC, doing business as Premier Pool/Spa of Delaware. According to the court docket report, a stay has been entered for Frank Stiles to suspend action against him.

“I’m anxious to see if he shows up for the trial,” Hellens said. 

Stiles’ attorney, Bruce Rogers, had no comment on whether the trial would proceed. Rogers himself filed court action against Stiles in 2020 for a $1,000 to $5,000 claim, according to court documents. The case was closed June 2021.

Barney said she knows of other cases in which contractors often take advantage of elderly residents. Jeremy Bowen, 45, who police have listed from Houston and Millville, was first arrested in March after police said he took $43,000 from a 72-year-old man to build an in-ground pool, but did no work.

Troop 4 Financial Crimes detectives began investigating Bowen and his companies Delmarva Landscaping Solutions LLC and Shoreline Escapes LLC for home improvement fraud and said Bowen had signed a contract in March 2023 with a 65-year-old Georgetown man who paid him $27,500 to install an in-ground pool. In September 2023, police said, Bowen signed a contract with an Ocean View woman who paid him $18,000 to install an in-ground pool, and in March, Bowen signed a contract with a Frankford man who paid Bowen $1,600 to install a fence. In all cases, police said, the work was not completed, the contracts were not fulfilled, and only one victim received partial reimbursement.

Bowen’s case is now winding through the courts after he turned himself into authorities in August to face two counts of felony home improvement fraud over $1,500, felony home improvement fraud over $1,500 where the victim is over 62, felony theft by false pretense over $1,500, and felony theft over $1,500. Bowen was arraigned by Justice of the Peace Court 2, and released on $8,000 secured bond and $3,000 cash bond.

Barney said it should not be so easy for contractors to rip off customers and set up multiple companies as part of their schemes.

“We need stricter laws in Delaware, and I’m willing to work toward that,” she said.

Police ask anyone who may have been defrauded by Stiles to call Troop 4 at 302-856-5850; send a private Facebook message to Delaware State Police; or submit a tip to Delaware Crime Stoppers.