Charmed by a Contractor: Six homeowners share similar stories about the same man

Connecticut and Massachusetts homeowners said they paid thousands of dollars to a contractor they knew simply as “Jason,” only to be left with damaged property, disconnected phone numbers and warranties they said were never honored.

During a six-month investigation, NBC Connecticut Responds found six homeowners who identified the same man and said he represented at least five different companies tied to masonry, waterproofing, chimney and foundation work.

Homeowners said Jason seemed charming and trustworthy. Now they’re left wondering if it was all part of a larger pattern, one that Homeland Security Investigations said has been rising in New England over the last few years.

Homeowners said they feel frustrated and hopeless by the lack of action by police and state agencies to hold him accountable.  

Millbury, Massachusetts, January 2024  

Liz Pereira, of Millbury, Massachusetts, hired Jason in January of 2024. The single mother and breast cancer survivor said she called Landmark Masonry & Construction for help after her basement flooded. She said Jason recommended a French drain and told her she had a crack in her foundation. The contract showed a price of nearly $20,000.  

“He knew I had breast cancer five years ago,” Pereira said. “He said that his mom had passed away from cancer as well. I felt like we connected. And I really felt like he cared about me.”  

Pereira said the work Jason completed never solved the problem.  

“They finished and… I had water in the basement the next day,” Pereira said. 

She also said the dirt around her home was sinking, including the concrete slab her air conditioning unit sits on.  

Pereira’s contract showed the work was covered under a 25-year warranty. Pereira said she called Jason right away, but said his crew never returned. So, she called the Millbury Police Department.  

According to the police report, officers confronted Jason and said he had a New York driver’s license with the last name “Carpenter.” They also wrote that they were recently made aware of a “possible scam” involving “transnational Irish immigrants” in the area who are not licensed and complete construction jobs incorrectly.

“I believed Ms. Pereira may have fallen for the scam in reference,” the officer wrote.

Pereira said police later sent her a photo of Jason and told her in an email his last name could be “McDonagh.”  

“They were trying to find him and trying to get the DA to approve a warrant, for his arrest. And they wouldn’t approve it,” Pereira said.  

Millbury police wrote in their report that they agreed with Assistant District Attorney Matthew Mullaney that it was a civil matter, meaning Pereira would have to sue Jason.  

“I was pretty devastated… It’s really unfair to hard-working people,” Pereira said. “I felt defeated.”  

Ledyard, September 2024  

Jennifer Spezzano said Jason’s crew started knocking down her chimney on her Ledyard home before she agreed to the work. She said the company was called Masterbuild Construction and said Jason showed her a New York driver’s license.  

Spezzano said she only wanted him to inspect the chimney and to give her a quote to seal her chimney. She said he sent a worker onto the roof for the estimate, and that is when they began to knock bricks out onto the ground. 

“I felt like I had no choice. I mean, what was I going to do? Have half of a chimney,” Spezzano said.  

She said she felt like Jason’s crew knocked the bricks out to pressure her into hiring them.  

“What he’s doing is pretty screwed up and I hope there’s some consequences,” Spezzano said.  

Burlington, October 2024

NBC Connecticut Responds reviewed a civil court case filed by a Burlington homeowner in the fall of 2024.

Court documents show the homeowner tried to sue Jason and his company, Masterbuild Construction, over a chimney repair job the homeowner described as “sub-par.” The homeowner wrote that Jason agreed to provide a full refund but wrote that the check never arrived. A court order showed the case was dismissed after the company couldn’t be located. 

The Burlington homeowner also filed a complaint with the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) in February of 2025. DCP was able to shut down the company’s website, but the complaint was closed three months later without any further action.  

Pamela Brown, DCP’s Director of Investigations, said the agency pursues unregistered contractors regularly.  

“Every day. That’s what we do. We’re here to prevent this work being done by unregistered contractors in the marketplace,” Brown said.  

Brown said her department issued 35 arrest warrants last year for unregistered contractors and 80 in 2024.  

In an interview, Brown initially said the Burlington homeowner could not make a positive identification from a photo array, and that was the main reason DCP could not move forward with an investigation. But after the interview, NBC Connecticut Responds called the homeowner, who said she was never shown a photo array by the department. The homeowner had an email from the investigator saying that it was DCP that could not identify him.  

A spokesperson for DCP later said its investigator relayed bad information to Director Brown before the interview and confused the case with an unrelated one.  

DCP said it went to Masterbuild Construction’s address, found the company was not there, called the business and researched carrier information for the phone number, but it was not traceable. 

While Brown didn’t speak specifically about Jason, she said in general, fraud groups are difficult to track down. 

“These groups are very savvy. They reinvent themselves. This is not just a Connecticut problem; it’s a nationwide problem. They move from state to state,” Brown said. 

We asked DCP if they were ever able to identify Jason since closing the Masterbuild Construction complaint, but they wouldn’t comment further.  

Mansfield, March 2025

About a month later, in Mansfield, Anna Borzelli said a man named Jason knocked on her door and offered to inspect her chimney.  

“He just seemed like a sweetheart,” Borzelli said.  

She said Jason’s crew got up on the roof and started taking apart her chimney before she agreed to the work. This was similar to the Ledyard incident in 2024.  

“He would talk about God and I’m Catholic, so of course, stupid me. I believed him,” Borzelli said.  

She said Jason’s company was Total Waterproofing and Masonry and initially quoted her $300, but the price eventually ballooned to $17,500.  

Borzelli said her son called State Police, thinking she might be getting scammed. According to the State Police call report, a trooper noted a license plate number for one of Jason’s workers and wrote that Jason promised to refund Borzelli $2,500. Borzelli told NBC Connecticut Responds later that he never did.  

The trooper wrote that the issue appeared to be a civil matter, meaning she would have to take the company to court. The trooper told NBC Connecticut Responds that CSP did not make an effort to speak with the worker who’s license plate was noted.  

We wanted to know why this incident was not classified as criminal, so we reached out to the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection who oversees the State Police. His office declined our request for an interview and wouldn’t comment any further.  

DCP said State Police did not share any information about Borzelli’s case with its investigators.  

Windsor Locks, August 2025

In Windsor Locks, Elizabeth StMartin said she hired a company called Total Waterproofing and Masonry after seeing an ad on social media. She said a man named Jason showed up at her home.  

She said Jason made small talk and shared personal details about his life like having two daughters and a pregnant wife.   

“You felt like you could trust him,” StMartin said.  

Contracts she provided to NBC Connecticut Responds showed she was initially quoted $1,600 for chimney repairs, but the bill rose to $5,100.  

A few weeks after work was completed, StMartin said water started pouring through her living room ceiling.  

“Oh, it’s crazy the amount of water that was getting through. We had probably four buckets, tons of towels. The kids were like on call with changing out towels and stuff. And the floor underneath is starting to bow a little because of all the water,” StMartin said.  

StMartin filed a report with Windsor Locks Police and said she identified Jason in a photo lineup.  

To our knowledge, Windsor Locks is the only law enforcement agency actively looking into Jason.  

“It’s just sad. It really is. I’m hoping that, you know, other people can see this and be more aware,” StMartin said.  

East Haddam, November 2025

“He really is a smooth talker, very much a family man,” said Kelly Nickerson, of East Haddam.  

Nickerson said she hired Jason in November through Stoneguard Masonry & Waterproofing and paid $10,000 for a new retaining wall, new steps into her garage and pavers in her driveway.  

“He just wanted cash. [He said] ‘I’m giving you a better discount for the cash price,’” Nickerson said.  

Nickerson said she immediately had concerns when Jason did not bring in heavy machinery to perform the work, and insisted she not go with the blue stone she wanted for her retaining wall. Within months, Nickerson said she became concerned about the quality of work when she noticed the new pavers in her driveway weren’t holding up.  

“They’re cracked. It’s sinking in from the weight of the SUVs going in and out of the garage, and I end up with water runoff going into the garage,” Nickerson said.  

“I tried to reach out to him. The number is shut off,” Nickerson said. “With my 25-year warranty, he’s nowhere to be found.”  

In April 2026, NBC Connecticut Responds learned Nickerson had found a new company she believed Jason was operating; Union Masonry & Waterproofing. Our crew was at her house when she called the company. During that phone call, a man who identified himself as Jason told Nickerson he never ripped her off and said that if she called police, they would say it was a civil matter. He offered to come back to the property to look at the damage but said he was in Canada and would not be back for another three months.  

That wasn’t true.  

West Hartford, April 2026

Two days later, the NBC Connecticut Responds team found Jason working under the company name Union Masonry & Waterproofing at a multi-family home in West Hartford. We also saw him loading up masonry supplies at a Home Depot. 

After the work was completed, we spoke to the homeowner and reviewed his contract with Jason. The homeowner said he was unhappy with the work that was done. He said after the chimney was taken apart, Jason changed the terms of the contract to include concrete instead of the agreed upon bricks to complete the job.  

NBC Connecticut Responds went to all five addresses listed for companies Jason represented and found none of the businesses there. We also called every number and wrote to every email address listed on the company websites. We could not get ahold of anyone representing any of the companies.  

A transnational ‘scam‘

When police in Millbury, Massachusetts came across Jason at Liz Pereira’s home, they wrote in a report that they had recently become aware of a “possible scam” in the area involving “transnational Irish immigrants.” The Detective also wrote, “I believed Ms. Pereira may have fallen for the scam in reference.” 

The “scam” Millbury Police described is similar to a scam recognized by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).   

NBC Connecticut Responds interviewed Jeffrey Grimming, HSI’s Acting Special Agent in Charge for New England, about what federal authorities call the “Traveling Conmen Fraud Group.”  

“There have been groups that have come to the United States to defraud our communities for decades,” Grimming said. “Most recently here, over the past 4 or 5 years, there has been an increase,” he said.  

The special agent said the groups are made up of Irish and United Kingdom nationals who pose as legitimate contractors but are not qualified to do the work.  

They are driven by “greed,” according to Grimming.  

He could not comment about Jason or any possible connection Jason may or may not have to that group.  

“These groups can be very sophisticated,” he said.  

“They do a very good job of giving the appearance or the illusion of legitimacy,” Grimming said.  

He said the groups often go door to door, distribute fliers, and use professional-looking websites. He said they often move from state to state, making individual cases harder to connect.  

“These crimes are often underreported or not reported at all. Oftentimes, victims are embarrassed or don’t realize until weeks or months after the work has been done, that it was fraud,” Grimming said.  

He said police departments may initially view a single case as a civil dispute.  

“That’s not uncommon. If you have an isolated incident where a homeowner has agreed to pay an individual for work that’s done, even though the work might have been unnecessary because the fraudulent contractor convinced them to do it. That could be perceived as a civil matter until it’s linked to other cases,” Grimming said.  

Some unrelated cases have been prosecuted in the northeast.   

Irish national John O’Brien pleaded guilty in Rhode Island and admitted to defrauding homeowners of more than $1.5 million. John O’Rourke pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing for illegally reentering the U.S.; he also has a warrant out for his arrest in Torrington for defrauding homeowners. James Anthony Sherlock is wanted in Wethersfield and is accused of defrauding homeowners in Wethersfield and Ashford. Wethersfield Police wrote in his arrest warrant that he was possibly connected to a known Irish traveling conmen group. Sherlock was previously charged with First Degree Forgery for allegedly using checks from the Wethersfield homeowner to buy Rolex watches. That charge was dismissed after Sherlock paid restitution to the watch dealer and completed a year of probation. 

Jason has not been charged with a crime or connected to an organized criminal group. 

Homeowners feeling helpless  

 Although Jason has not been charged with a crime, those who hired him said the lack of action to hold him accountable has been frustrating. In two instances, police have come across him and decided the homeowners should pursue it in civil court. In another instance, the homeowner attempted to sue him but the company didn’t exist at the address listed on the company’s website. Without an address to serve a summons, the court ordered the case dismissed. In that instance, DCP, one of the state agencies created to protect consumers, also couldn’t pursue Jason because of a lack of accurate contact information.   

“I would think that the law enforcement agencies would be that much stronger and want to capture this guy, because look at what he’s doing to people,” Nickerson said.  

“It’s just not right to play people the way he does. He takes their money and screws up their property,” Borzelli said.  

“What is it going to take for this person to get arrested and get caught?” Pereira said.  

It’s been two-and-a-half years since Jason worked on her house. She showed us how the ground around her house is still sinking. She said it’s been like that since he left her property.  

Pereira had a warning for other homeowners.  

“Just stay away. I mean, I can’t stress enough. Don’t believe the kindness. He’s a manipulator, a liar,” Pereira said.  

Prevention

NBC Connecticut Responds has the following tips to prevent something like this from happening to you:

• Resist the urge to act quickly. If someone comes to your door selling a service, don’t commit to it until you’ve taken the time to research the company.
• Get as much personal information of the person as possible
• Check if a contractor is licensed with the state and that their business address is valid. If the address is a shared or coworking space, call the office and ask if the business really exists there.
• Ask to look at their driver’s license. If something goes wrong, police will want that information to look them up.
• If you feel like something is wrong, file a complaint with Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection immediately.
• Always be skeptical of a deal that sounds too good to be true.

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