HENDRICKS COUNTY— A contractor will spend the next six months on work release after he admitted Tuesday to using a fake name with a Hendricks County couple looking to install an in-ground pool.
Mark Sellers pleaded guilty on November 28 to Identity Deception, a Level 6 felony.
As part of a plea agreement, Hendricks County prosecutors agreed to dismiss two other felony charges of Theft and Home Improvement Fraud.
For his six months on work release, Sellers will live in a stand-alone Hendricks County facility that has a 200 bed capacity.
Sellers previously lived in Noblesville, but now lives in Madison County, he told the judge Tuesday.
Hendricks County Judge Mark Smith sentenced Sellers to 6 months of work release.
He must also attend a theft class, can’t consume or possess alcohol, and must pay restitution to his victims.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for February to determine the exact restitution amount.
According to court documents, a Hendricks County couple hired Sellers after he identified himself as “Mark Fireman” on a quote for an inground pool installation and listed a business as Coquina Concrete, which does not exist.
The couple said they paid Sellers but he didn’t finish the job and no one would complete the pool installation due to the poor quality of work done, read court documents.
The Hendricks County couple lost $36,000 including materials and cash payments to Sellers’ laborers, records show.
In January 2022, the Indiana Attorney General’s office won a $47,620 judgment against Sellers.
Records show he has not made any payments on the judgment.
Sellers was ordered not to operate a home improvement business in Indiana for two years.
The Indiana Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit accusing him of violating the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by taking people’s money and failing to finish jobs, sometimes leaving behind dangerous conditions.
WRTV Investigates first exposed Sellers in 2018for taking customers’ money and not doing the work promised.
Records show Mark Sellers is accused of bad business practices in Colorado as well.
The Boulder County District Attorney’s office sued Sellers in 2011 for low-balling customers by underbidding construction projects, mispresenting his masonry work on his website and for using deceptive trade practices.
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- Get estimates in writing
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- Ask about insurance: personal liability, worker’s comp, and property damage coverage
- Pay wisely, not all upfront
