Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputies arrested 50 suspected unlicensed contractors after a four-month undercover operation that ended Oct. 2. The sting, called Operation Bad Builder, was built around online ads for home-repair work and a fake location in Riverview where detectives posed as residents looking for help.
The case is drawing attention because homeowners were still trying to sort through repairs while demand for construction work stayed high across Florida. Investigators said they answered ads posted between June 1 and Oct. 2, then invited people to come give quotes for jobs that many of them were not licensed to do.
One of the arrests involved Steven Andreassen, who was accused of performing electrical work without a license. Andreassen was also arrested in June for domestic battery by strangulation, and he has prior out-of-state arrests for kidnapping, robbery, sexual battery, drug offenses and assault with a deadly weapon on a government official. His case shows how the operation reached beyond a simple licensing sweep and into people with deeper criminal histories.
Calvin Wilson was another example. Deputies said he quoted $14,000 for heating and air conditioning work and wanted half up front. He had also been arrested before in Pinellas County for the same offense, and officials said he is a convicted felon with a past record that includes robbery, grand theft and aggravated battery. That pattern was part of why deputies said they were watching online ads so closely: they believed some contractors were using the repair rush to collect money quickly and leave jobs unfinished.
Officials said 18 of the people arrested are in the country illegally, but they did not release how much money may have been lost by the residents who filed the complaints that led to the operation. That missing figure leaves the scope of the damage unclear, even as deputies said some of the suspects had already been accused of shoddy work, taking payment and never finishing the job.
Chad Chronister said the suspects were found online through research and then invited to come provide a quote. He also said some were targeted because complaints from the county already pointed to unfinished work and stolen money. Richard Cranker urged homeowners to get proof of insurance, insist that contractors pull the proper permits and walk away if something feels suspicious. Residents were also told to request a written contract, never pay the full balance up front and verify any trade license directly on MyFloridaLicense.com before hiring someone for home improvements.
The operation is a warning that the fast-start promises often used in repair ads can hide bigger problems. For now, the arrests are public, the complaint totals are not, and deputies have not said when they will disclose how much damage the homeowners may have suffered.
