FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – David B. Taylor, a roofing contractor who has been the subject of two Call Christina investigations, was arrested last Thursday and charged with workers' compensation fraud by knowingly violating a stop work order.
He spoke to Local 10 News investigative reporter Christina Vazquez Monday and wasn't too happy about the allegations against him.
"I got arrested for working -- big whoopie doo," he said.
Related Links:
West Miami-Dade condo owners allege irregularities in roof proposal process
Coral Springs townhome residents question city inspection due to damaged roofs
Just two weeks ago, Vazquez explained how state regulators had issued a stop work order for David Taylor's Taylor Roofing and Contracting related to a workers' compensation case.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Taylor knowingly violated that stop work order by performing roof repair work under Taylor Roofing and Contracting at a Fort Lauderdale church.
While speaking to Vazquez, Taylor was very candid, even admitting to hiring undocumented workers.
"It's terrible hiring illegal people, but I happen to love my Latino people and I've worked with them for 15 years, and a lot of them are not legal and that's what happened to me, and I am going to make that right with the state," Taylor said. "And I am going to follow the rules, but you know, I have supported a lot of families that I am proud of and that is life."
THE BEACH CLUB:
Taylor is the subject of complaints by some West Miami-Dade condo owners who allege irregularities in the roof proposal process there.
Taylor secured the bid at The Beach Club under the business name D&T General Contracting.
Records obtained by the Call Christina team document associations and connections between Taylor and the other two companies that submitted bids for the same job.
A current condo board member, Katherine Castro, wants roofing work already underway to stop and for state regulators to step-in and investigate.
"So that's what we want," Castro said. "We want an injunction until a right bidding process is done."
In records obtained by the Call Christina team from the Florida Department of Financial Services, Taylor Contracting and Roofing has been on the hook for a penalty worth more than a quarter of a million dollars related to a worker's comp case.
The department issued a final order, saying that until the $279,538.66 penalty was paid in full and proof of compliance was provided, "Emloyer shall immediately cease all business operations in the state of Florida."
A referral was made to the Division of Insurance Fraud as a result of the Division of Workers' Compensation investigation of the employer for violating section 440, F.S.
A copy of the Final Order was sent to Taylor Contracting and Roofing Inc., which was filed March, 25, 2015.
Less than two months later, on May 15, 2015, Taylor submitted a bid to The Beach Club under the company name D&T General Contracting, Inc.
According the Department of Financial Services, the final order filed in March applies narrowly to the employer, Taylor Contracting & Roofing Inc. to cease business operations. It doesn't, they say, prevent the employees of the company from working or forming its own company.
EAGLE’S NEST:
In October of 2015 Eagle's Nest homeowners in Coral Springs reached out to Call Christina to say roofs replaced after Hurricane Wilma were already falling apart.
"Any kind of wind we have, there's just thousands of projectiles scattered across the neighborhood," Dennis Chavis, of the Eagles Nest Townhomes, said.
Chavis took Local 10 News on a tour of blue tarps that protect the roofs in his Coral Springs neighborhood.
"They are supposed to last for 20 years," he said. "They basically lasted for four."
A roofing consultant hired by Eagles Nest found that more than 25 percent of the roofs are damaged beyond repair and that some materials didn't meet Florida building code.
Taylor was one of the named defendants in a suit filed by the Eagle’s Nest Townhomes Condominium Association.
Since that time, the association has retained new counsel. The office of Bradford Beilly tells Local 10 News the case is pending.
Over the phone, Taylor blamed roof failures on Chinese nails.
According to the Office of Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, while the stop work order was addressed to Taylor Contracting and Roofing, should David Taylor start or purchase a new company, what's known as a successor stop work order would be issued so that the new company also cannot conduct business operations until the requirements have been met.