Our Patrick Abraham Diaz Nightmare

• Dec 13, 2018: I entered into a contract with Patrick Diaz to get the construction work done. The project was bid for 45 days for $5000. I paid Patrick $4,000 cash prior to commencement of work. A thing to note here is that Patrick wanted me to pay him everything in cash. He told me - "It'll take me a long time to get the check cleared which will delay the project".
• Dec 17, 2018: Patrick claimed that the deck replacement only covered the upper wooden board and that he didn't anticipate the joists under the board will need to be replaced. Patrick demanded an additional $1,000 which I again paid in cash.
• Dec 21, 2018: We decided to increase the scope of the project to include installing screens around the patio. The project cost swelled to around $8000. I paid Patrick another $1000 in cash.
• Dec 22, 2018: Patrick demanded additional $600 for additional labor to remove a tree root under the patio, and getting 2 cu yards of gravel. He claimed that he hadn't anticipated this extra work. I paid $600 in cash but received only 1 cu yard of gravel.
• Dec 28, 2018: This day marks the start of the stories he concocted about his family issues. The stories ranged from "Child Protection Services are coming to take away my kids/my sister's kids.." to "I'm broke and don't have money to feed the kids.." to "I need to hire a lawyer to fight Child Protective Services..". I paid him $500 to help his family.
• Dec 31, 2018: Patrick went broke again and asked for $400 which I paid.
  • At this point I finally realized that Patrick Abraham Diaz was conning me and that it was a mistake to give him so much money up front.
• Jan 7, 2019: Patrick asked for another $400 for delivering 2 cu yards of gravel which I paid. When asked for receipt Patrick just gave me an invoice for $390 and said he'll send me the receipts soon.
• Jan 19, 2019: I had to go out of the country for 3 weeks. Patrick asked for my house keys so he could store his tools in the house. He assured me that all the work will be completed by Feb 10 - the date I returned.
• Feb 10, 2019: I return to find that no work is competed. Patrick is gone, as are his tools. Attempts to reach him only lead to voicemail.
• Feb 18, 2019: I did get a hold of him after I threatened legal action. Patrick calls me and makes another story about how he was incarcerated because of CPS and will return in a week to complete the work. He acts threatening and warns me not to take any legal action. Following is a direct quote from him during our phone conversation.

We have now hired an attorney and are pursuing both criminal and civil legal action against him.

The info I uncovered on Patrick Abraham Diaz has been summarized in Crime Record.

There are many more details that we can’t post about on the internet on the advice of our attorney because they are part of our pending lawsuit.