Albertville man charged with swindling dozens out of over $980K

An Albertville man with a history of taking money from homeowners and failing to provide services has been charged again with theft.

Richard Patrick Wooton, 53, is charged with swindling more than 40 victims out of over $980,000. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Thursday and he was booked into Hennepin County Jail Tuesday night.

A criminal complaint states at least 35 accounts of homeowners across Wright, Hennepin and Sherburne counties paying Wooton for construction projects from July 2017 through July 2018 and not receiving the work that they paid for. In many cases, work was never even started on the projects.

Those homeowners paid a total of $849,734.71 to Wooton.

Additionally, several subcontractors also haven’t been paid for work or materials or were paid late. The complaint states Wooton and the company he runs, Crossroads Remodeling, owe those subcontractors more than $134,000.

According to the complaint, many other suppliers and subcontractors have sued Wooton and Crossroads for outstanding balances in the past for over $480,000 worth of unpaid bills.

Wooton also has a lengthy criminal history that stretches back to 1990 and includes convictions for burglary, theft, check forgery and stolen property in several counties, including Anoka, Carver, Washington and Hennepin counties.

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In many cases, the complaint states Wooton told homeowners they’d receive a discount for paying before work starts and when work was delayed or stopped, he’d claim family medical incidents, deaths or disasters were the reason when financial records showed the money was used on personal items.

RELATED: More Homeowners File Complaints, Seek Justice Concerning Crossroads Remodeling in Albertville

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has previously reported several times on Wooton and Crossroads failing to complete work that they’d been paid for.

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Wooton’s next court hearing is set for Thursday afternoon and he’s currently out of jail.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.