On an early August morning, a roofing contractor arrived at a Lafayette, Louisiana couple’s house and requested permission to inspect the home’s roof. The roofer’s arrival wasn’t unexpected.
The couple, who go by Jordan and Sarah, had been approached days earlier by a neighbor whose own roof had recently been repaired. The neighbor asked Jordan and Sarah if they would like a discounted roof inspection by the same contractor who did the neighbor’s roof. The couple agreed, and within days, a contractor called to set up a time for an inspection.
When Zechariah Moore, a field representative for Roofing Guys, returned from a 90-minute roof inspection on August 6, he delivered Jordan and Sarah with bad news: the roof was in need of severe repairs to the cost of $30,000-$40,000. After showing the couple pictures of the roof damage, Moore left them with his business card.
Later that day, Moore texted Jordan more photos of the roof and said wind damage was the likely culprit.
“Due to some of the recent storms, I would say let’s file a claim now and get your house ready in the event a named storm comes and you have to pay 10k+ to get your roof replaced,” Moore texted Jordan.
If Jordan acted now, Moore texted, he could get the roof replaced for only the cost of the couple’s insurance deductible.
As Jordan and Sarah would soon find out, not only was Moore’s offer too good to be true, it was part of an alleged scheme to intentionally damage the couple’s roof, then misrepresent the cause of the damage to the homeowners.
Moore, in fact, was not the same contractor who the neighbor recommended but a bad actor out to defraud the couple’s homeowner’s insurance carrier, according to a cease and desist order by the Louisiana Department of Insurance.
“Homeowners in Louisiana deal with enough stress and uncertainty regarding the protection of their homes and families after a storm,” said Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. “The LDI is working more closely than ever with our law enforcement partners, and we will not tolerate dishonest contractors or any other bad actors defrauding policyholders and insurers to make a profit.”
A closer look
One day after Moore inspected Jordan and Sarah’s roof, the couple got in touch with a contractor from the company who was supposed to perform the original inspection. Daniel Day of Top Team Roofing inspected the couple’s roof on August 8 and concluded the damage Moore marked on the roof was manmade.
Day said that the shingles on the roof were equally damaged and that wind damage does not cause equal damages. Day informed the couple that their entire roof would need to be replaced.
An inspection report provided to the couple stated that the damage to the roof was not consistent with naturally occurring wind damage.
Commissioner Temple found that Moore, in support of a claim for payment, manufactured the manmade damage, misrepresented the cause of the damage to Jordan, and advised Jordan to file a claim for damages sustained to the home.
“Our high rates of property insurance are made worse when insurance companies pay claims for manmade damage caused by bad actors,” Temple said. “And our citizens suffer from losing trust in the individuals they need to help put their homes and lives back in order.”
The couple’s insurance carrier, Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, issued a claim payment on September 18 for $23,627, which is the actual cash value for the estimated roof repairs minus the couple’s deductible.
On September 26, Moore was arrested by the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s and charged with Damage to Property With Intent to Fraud, a felony. He was booked into the Livingston Parish Detention Center until his release on bond on the same day.
Moore and Roofing Guys LLC were served with the cease and desist order on October 1 and have 30 days from the time of service to request an administrative appeal or the action becomes final.
Topics Louisiana Contractors Homeowners