Chief Urges Homeowners to Check Storm Repair Firms

In the wake of several damaging spring storms, Olney Police Chief Dan Birbeck is once again warning residents to take precautions before hiring contractors to repair hail-damaged roofs, vehicles, and structures.

During his regular Friday morning briefing on June 6, Chief Birbeck said that the department had recently opened a theft of service case stemming from a home repair job that had gone awry. However, he emphasized that many disputes over payments and unfinished work typically end up in civil court, rather than criminal court.

“Make sure if you hire a contractor that you do your due diligence,” he said. “You need to get a contract, you need to put things in writing.”

Chief Birbeck explained that without a signed agreement or clear documentation, residents who pay for partial work may have little legal recourse if a contractor fails to complete the job—or if the homeowner later disputes the work performed. “It goes both ways with contractors not having contracts, not documenting the work that they’ve billed for. This turns into a civil matter,” he said.

Earlier this year, the department also warned of insurance scammers who often descend on small towns following large-scale weather events. In many cases, out-of-town contractors demand up-front payment for repairs and then disappear before doing the work.

Chief Birbeck said the legal threshold for a criminal theft of service case is narrower than many people think. “It’s one thing if the contractor does work and the person doesn’t pay them at all—or vice versa. Then we can look at theft of services,” he said. “More or less, it’s like going into a barber and getting a haircut and not paying— that’s theft of services.”

However, when some work has been performed and some money has changed hands, the situation becomes more complex. “That all becomes civil,” Chief Birbeck said. “So make sure you have good documentation. You have good parameters of the job. You can’t say ‘we started this and then I told them to do that’ if it’s not documented in the contract.”

In a recent case, the police had to inform a resident that his claim would need to be resolved through the justice of the peace because he could not prove the scope of work he paid for. “We had to let a gentleman know that what was paid for was not documented,” Chief Birbeck said. “We had to send it over to the JP.”

Chief Birbeck encouraged residents to ask for references, research companies, and avoid making large payments before any work is done.