[StBernard] Chalmette contractor must repay money to bilked customers, judge says

[Westley Annis]

Chalmette contractor must repay money to bilked customers, judge says
by The Times-Picayune 
Tuesday October 14, 2008, 10:10 AM
A Chalmette contractor has pleaded guilty to bilking clients out of money
they advanced him to repair Hurricane Katrina-damaged homes and must pay
them back or face jail time. 

If Lyle Torres does not repay the $213,000 during the five years of his
probation, he must serve 10-year sentences on each of the eight counts of
felony theft over $500, under a sentence recently imposed by state District
Judge Kirk Vaughn in District Court in St. Bernard Parish. 

Torres, 38, of 45 E. Carmack Drive, must also receive counseling for
gambling addiction and refrain from gambling as part of the sentence. 

Torres was paid by customers for construction work he never performed or
completed, the Sheriff's Office said. 

Torres, who has been jailed in St. Bernard Parish since his arrest in July,
has been transferred to a prison in St. Tammany Parish, where he also faces
a criminal charge involving contractor-related fraud, according to a news
release from the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office.