[StBernard] Contractor, also a former lawmaker, arrested for scamming storm victims

[Westley Annis]

Contractor, also a former lawmaker, arrested for scamming storm victims 

11:12 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 6, 2009

 Susan Edwards / Eyewitness News

sedwards at wwltv.com 


NEW ORLEANS - He's accused of bilking hundreds of thousands of dollars from
homeowners after Katrina. 

He's a contractor, also a former Alabama lawmaker, who promised to build
modular homes for storm victims, but never delivered. 

And tonight, he's behind bars. 

77-year-old Maxine Miller gingerly walks to the back of her FEMA trailer,
pointing out where her house once stood, before it was crushed by trees
during Katrina. The last thing she ever wanted to do was start over, but she
had no choice. 

"That was my little patio where I would sit outside," she said, pointing to
a small patch of cement, with a few steps leading to nowhere. 

Miller has lived in the FEMA trailer since the storm destroyed her house.
Last year she received enough federal money, $11,000, to start building
back. 

"It seemed like we were going to get a home at last," she said. 

Miller had met an Alabama man, a contractor named John Colvin, who built a
modular home in her Westwego neighborhood. 

"Everywhere they had a FEMA trailer he would stop, he stopped here day after
day, week after week and always, ask, 'did you get your money yet?' 'No. I
haven't,'" she would tell Colvin. "So when I did start to get money, he
asked me for $11,000 deposit and said that his nephew would be here the next
day to measure for the foundation." 

Miller signed a contract with Colvin on August 22, 2008, and wrote him a
check. 

"We waited, waited, waited, started calling, each time called, his answering
machine was full, mailbox, full, so I sent him a registered letter. 

"And I begged, please, please don't let me down." 

Miller said she never saw or heard from John Colvin again. 

Eyewitness News went to Chalmette in hopes of speaking with someone with
Colvin Modular Homes. The business is listed as being on Paris Road. But
when we made it here, we found out the business has been closed for at least
five months. 

Miller filed a report with the Westwego Police Department, who found Colvin,
a former Alabama lawmaker, back in that state. 

Eyewitness News confirmed Maxine Miller wasn't the only one looking for
Colvin. There are 12 warrants for his arrest in New Orleans, and a total of
five in Jefferson Parish, according to authorities. 

Investigators estimate Colvin took at least a quarter of a million dollars
from storm victims in Louisiana. 

Louisiana agencies worked with the Rainbow City, Alabama Police Department,
to find Colvin at a home in nearby Hokes Bluff, Alabama, after Miller
identified Colvin in a photo lineup. He was arrested last week. 

"He did sign a waiver of extradition in Etowah Count, and is in the
sheriff's custody at this time," said Lt. Eric Orlando, Westwego Police
Department. 

Maxine Miller said she would like to come face to face with Colvin, one more
time. 

"I will never get my money back from him, but at least he won't be able to
hurt anybody else," she said. 

Colvin faces charges of theft and misappropriation of funds. Lt. Orlando
said the Louisiana Attorney General's Office is also investigating Colvin. 

Because there are at least three local agencies with warrants against him,
it hasn't yet been decided which agency will bring Colvin back to Louisiana.


He will be extradited within the next 10 days.