The Pueblo Building Department summoned a contractor to court after he continued to solicit business without a valid license.
Joe Pacheco is accused of ripping off multiple homeowners by taking money up front for jobs he didn’t finish.
Friday afternoon, Pacheco pleaded “no contest” to operating a remodeling company without a general contractor’s license and failing to pull proper permits for repair work.
A judge ordered Pacheco to pay a $250 fine.
News 5 Investigates has profiled Pacheco in two separate reports. In our original story, we spoke with several homeowners who hired Pacheco for remodeling work. They all claim Pacheco was friendly at first, but stopped answering phone calls and never finished the work he promised he would do. Some homeowners claim they are out tens of thousands of dollars.
In our Dec. 7 follow-up story, we uncovered Pacheco had ties to law enforcement. He was part of the dive team at the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office. One day after we sent an inquiry to the Sheriff Kirk Taylor’s spokesperson, we learned Pacheco was terminated.
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office has a total of five incident reports related to Pacheco’s remodeling work.
Two of the five cases have been referred to the District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal charges.
Chief Investigative Reporter Eric Ross confronted Pacheco outside the courtroom Friday.
Ross asked, “Do you plan on returning any of the money you took from homeowners?”
“No comment,” Pacheco replied.
Pacheco proceeded to walk over to the municipal court payment counter to pay his $250 fine.
On the way out, Ross continued to ask Pacheco questions.
“Where did the money go?”
“No comment,” Pacheco replied. “Have a nice day!”
