Calgary homeowners seek justice in alleged scam

A handful of homeowners around Calgary are hoping to see justice after alleging a contractor ripped them off nearly $500,000.

"I was so overtaken by his charm and his personality," explained Sabrina Watson who hired Kieron Warren to renovate her Chestermere home.

"I just completely threw everything out the door."

As weeks went by, Watson says Warren began to gut her home, but little seemed to get replaced.

When she started questioning the process, she says Warren always had a satisfying answer.

The Watsons then took a vacation to Florida and Warren texted the couple every day about work getting done.

But it was a different story when the Watsons returned home from their trip.

"I literally fell to my knees, my husband started screaming, and we realized (Warren) had been lying to us the whole time we were gone," Watson said.

She and her husband eventually fired Warren, but they had already paid him $151,000 for his work, and another $37,000 for his contractors, which Watson alleges Warren never paid.

Others affected in alleged scam

Janine Boldon, who is a school teacher in Calgary, says she's lost tens of thousands of dollars and possibly her homeafter hiring Kieron Warren for renovations in January.

She says she paid him $80,000, but he never finished the work so she hired another contractor.

"That costs us another $60,000 close to $150,000, so now we can't retire or if we do we got to sell our house," Boldon explained.

Service Alberta is investigatingfive complaints against Kieron Warren, which total roughly $500,000.

A spokesperson tells CBC News the contractor has been investigated for similar complaints in 2010.

He pleaded guilty to charges under the fair trading act and will be sentenced Oct. 2.

Warren declined an interview with the CBC.