Chicago consumers have found themselves on the wrong side of the fence after Attorney General Kwame Raoul slapped the owner of a suburban fencing company with serious fraud and theft charges. Eric Zabalza, the man behind Sierra Fencing Inc. of Evergreen Park, is accused of taking more than $20,000 for work he never delivered, leaving clients with empty yards and lighter wallets.
Following an indictment rife with allegations of deceit, Zabalza, a 42-year-old Chicago resident, faces a legal backlash that could land him behind bars for a stretch, with 13 counts of theft and 3 counts of home repair fraud pinned to his name, each count of theft, a Class 3 felony can lead up to five years in the slammer, while the home repair fraud charges could tack on an additional three years each—the indictment states that from March to June 2021, he accepted hefty down payments for fence installations from eight Cook County residents, but the jobs were left undone, creating a gaping hole of trust amid the suburban backdrop.
Raoul has taken a firm stance on the matter, arguing that the hard-earned cash of Illinois residents should be met with the promised repairs, not empty promises and ghost jobs. "I will continue to enforce laws that protect consumers from bad actors who take advantage of them by accepting payments without performing any work," Raoul asserted, according to a statement from the Illinois Attorney General's Office.
While the presumption of innocence, until proven guilty, stands firm in the eyes of the law, the case is already being spearheaded by Assistant Attorney General Robert Schwarz, ensuring that Accused fencing firm owner Zabalza might soon face the sharp end of justice if he's found guilty, the metaphorical chain-link of lawful retribution seeks to protect consumers and deliver a clear message to fraudulent home repair schemers. Zabalza and Sierra Fencing have yet to install any of the fences despite collecting a total of $20,449.
