Alachua County Sheriff’s Office is investigating claims that a local fence and tree service has scammed customers out of money or contracted work.
Since January, scattered complaints have been made to ACSO by people claiming that North Florida Fence and Tree Services, a High Springs based company, scammed them by not completing work they had paid for, said ACSO Public Information Officer Art Forgey.
“About six weeks ago, it became apparent to us that there was a pattern here, and that there were many people that had done this, which changed it from being civil to it being fraud,” he said.
These claims aren’t just limited to Alachua County, Forgey said, but also to Gilchrist and Putnam County. He said he believes there’s more victims out there around North Central Florida who haven’t reported to authorities yet.
“We have been able to get the information that we have on this company and this individual to those other counties so that they can start developing their own case also,” he said.
Forgey estimates the number of victims to be in the “double digits,” between 10 and 20, he said. He said he believes the victims have lost thousands of dollars to the company.
“We're not talking about small numbers,” he said. “Because there are so many victims, and each one of them has lost a significant amount of money so the grand total, when it's all said and done, is gonna be quite significant.”
Jennifer Marshall Maynard, a 65-year-old Bell resident, said she contracted North Florida Fence and Tree Services, LLC, to cut down trees at her home, but they never came back to haul them away.
“When it came time to haul away what they cut down for me, it was excuse after excuse for why they hadn’t been back to do that,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “Then they just quit responding at all.”
The Alligator reached out to the owner of the company, Jackson Thomas, multiple times for comment. He didn’t respond by publication Tuesday evening.
In a public Facebook post on Sept. 26, Thomas apologized for “things that may have happened” and said he’s working to make amends for his past actions.
“Regardless what you have heard or seen I’m not a bad person just got myself in bad situations I apologize to everyone,” the post read.
The sheriff’s office urges anyone who has experienced a similar situation with North Florida Fence and Tree Service, LLC or Thomas to contact Detective J. Skelly at 352-367-4108.
