POMPANO BEACH, Fla. – A South Florida pool builder accused of taking more than $1 million from his customers but not finishing their pools is now accused of continuing to scam homeowners under a different company name.
Keith Stuart formerly owned Nationwide Pools, Inc., but shut down his business in June following a series of Local 10 reports.
On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation revoked Stuart's state license to build pools, and on Wednesday, the attorney general, who is already suing Stuart, froze the assets of the "National Construction Group," a Pompano Beach general contractor that was certified to build pools by the state in July, just a few weeks after Stuart shut down Nationwide Pools, Inc.
According to a press release: "Nationwide Pools transferred its assets to National Construction Group and continued its unfair and deceptive sales and marketing practices during this period of active litigation. During the time that it was transferring assets to the new company, Nationwide Pools was continuing to take payments and new deposits from consumers. On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi's Office obtained an order from the Broward County Circuit Court freezing the company's assets and enjoining the defendants from any further business related to pool construction and remodeling that could harm Florida's consumers."
"Can we talk to you about your license? What happened to the money?," asked Local 10's Roger Lohse, who caught up with Stuart on Wednesday outside the National Construction Group office in Pompano Beach. Stuart used a key to get in the front door of the business and several of his old vehicles from Nationwide Pools were parked in the back.
Stuart jumped into his Mercedes and drove away without answering Lohse's questions.
Local 10 tried to contact the registered owner of National Construction Group but nobody answered the phone, and the mailing address on file in state records comes back to a post office box in Coconut Creek.