Local Couple faces more charges in multiple cases

A couple previous arrested for alleged illegal contracting and grand theft is now facing more charges in another case.

Julie Lynne Moore, 58, and Mark Morales, 54, were each charged January 18 with felony contracting without a license and grand theft while a governor-declared State of Emergency was in effect.

They were handed the new charges while in the Monroe County Detention Center, where they have been since their January 14 arrests in three other cases. In those cases, they are each charged with two counts of unlicensed contracting and one count each of grand theft and misleading advertising.

State Attorney’s Office Investigator Frank Zamora opened the latest investigation on January 17, when a Key West woman told him she hired Morales on April 14, 2018, to repair her roof. Moore and Morales billed themselves as coming from a company called Affordable Roofing.

The signed agreement was for $16,550 to repair the roof and included the cost of materials. On April 21, 2018, the woman gave Moore a check for $8,250 as a deposit. Months went by with no repairs done, though $800 worth of roofing materials were dropped off at the woman’s house on Trinity Drive.

Then on September 19, 2018, Morales went to the woman’s house and she wrote him another check for $1,500 to get a city building permit for the work. However, the Key West Building Department never issued a permit and Moore and Morales are not licensed to contract by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Overall, the victim paid Moore and Morales $9,750 for work that was never done.

Gov. Rick Scott declared a statewide State of Emergency on September 4, 2017, days ahead of Hurricane Irma, which struck the Florida Keys on September 10, 2017, as a Category 4 storm. The State of Emergency was still in effect when Moore’s and Morales’ alleged crimes occurred.

 

Key Wes Code Compliance and the DBPR have previously cited Morales for illegal contracting. The DBPR’s two latest citations against Moore and Morales were issued on January 16 by Investigator Mark Terrill.

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