Escambia County contractor faces new disciplinary charges over $400,000 in unfinished work

Carol Bergeron of Gulf Breeze has some knowledge about the construction business. That’s how her late father made his living, even building a house for her mother on Pensacola Beach more than 15 years ago. When the house was damaged by Hurricane Sally in 2020, she asked a local public adjuster to recommend a contractor to make repairs and the company suggested contractor Jesse LaCoste. She did and it’s a decision she regrets.

“The issue I have with LaCoste Construction Group is I was charged $104,765 for a new roof, repairs to two decks, and demolition to the interior of the house,” Bergeron wrote to the Escambia County Contractor Competency Board in her complaint. “This in my opinion was way over what the costs of the work performed actually were. The charges depleted all the funds I had received from the insurance company plus additional money I had given him for deck repairs. I don’t believe this money was used appropriately and strongly feel Jesse LaCoste scammed us.”

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Bergeron appeared before the county contractor competency board to discuss her complaint. She said the only work he finished was the roof, and he left the house basically gutted, with no sheetrock or cabinets and she included pictures to prove her point. She ended up selling the house “as is” because she could no longer afford to keep it. Not only was she losing the nearly $3,000 a month in rent it usually brought in, but she was running out of funds to make the repairs.

“It has just been awful,” Bergeron told the Pensacola News Journal. “We gave it away basically. I couldn’t take it. Finally, I said I can’t do this anymore.”

The contractor competency board agreed to move the issue to a disciplinary hearing on the basis of possible code violations.

“You’re pretty much aware that you’re not the only one and I just want to let you know we’re sorry all this happened,” said Alton Lister, with Escambia County Contractor Competency Board.

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LaCoste is one of two local contractors, including his brother-in-law Matthew Banks, who are facing a slew of fraud charges across Northwest Florida for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for work that either wasn’t completed or was shoddy. Along with Bergeron’s concerns, the Escambia Contractor Competency Board also moved on another complaint that has been making its way through the county legal process.

Pensacola couple James and Joan Mitchell said LaCoste also left them owing their bank nearly $400,000 in loans and other costs because LaCoste failed to even get started on the house they hired him to build last year. James Mitchell wrote the board in his complaint that he and his wife thought they had done their due diligence only to be faced with little recourse for restitution, except to move slowly through the legal process.

“They’re holding me responsible for the money they gave him,” said James Mitchell. “They’ve got my property tied up, so I’m trapped. For the past 20 years, Joan and I have been planning, saving and waiting to be in a position financially to build our dream home.”

The board ordered LaCoste, who was not at the hearing and has often not responded to county inquiries about the complaints, to pay the Mitchells $326,313.74 in restitution, plus a $5,000 fine. They also revoked his license, which has already been revoked in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, along with Banks’ license. Mitchell hopes he’ll be able to recover the money one day, but if it does happen, he knows it won’t be anytime soon. In the meantime, he’s making other plans to move forward on their dream home.

“Eventually I will probably have to file charges with the sheriff’s office and possibly file a civil suit, but I just have to keep moving forward.”

Even though she wasn’t looking forward to reliving the problems she had with LaCoste, Carol Bergeron also moved forward with her complaint to the board because she wanted to be heard.

“Somebody asked me why I wanted to do this and I felt it was important because I don’t want this to happen to anybody else.”

LaCoste’s next court hearing in Escambia County is scheduled for March 17, on multiple charges of fraud and theft.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Contractor Jesse LaCoste faces new disciplinary charges over $400,000