A Harahan contractor who landed more than $882,000 in city work is now a convicted fraud defendant - but he will not be seeing the inside of a prison cell anytime soon. Paul Galaforo, owner of Galaforo Companies LLC, pleaded guilty Friday to residential contractor fraud in a case tied to several municipal projects in Harahan. A judge handed down a two-year hard-labor sentence that was fully suspended, so Galaforo avoids immediate jail time but must complete one year of active probation. The plea comes after local reporting and scrutiny from the state licensing board over the city paying his unlicensed company for multiple projects in 2024.
According to FOX 8 (WVUE), Galaforo pleaded guilty to residential contractor fraud of $25,000 or greater. The station reports that the judge imposed the suspended hard-labor sentence and one year of active probation and noted that Harahan paid more than $882,000 to his unlicensed company for construction work around the city. With the plea, the criminal case tied to those contracts is resolved, even as regulatory actions and civic questions continue to hang over City Hall.
State board records show projects and enforcement actions
Records from the State Licensing Board for Contractors list multiple Harahan projects connected to Galaforo Companies, including work on the Emergency Operations Center, the Park of Heroes memorial, the senior center and a playground. The documents show the board opened cases to review alleged unlicensed contracting, with a docket that lays out project values and scheduled hearings that preceded civil penalties and enforcement referrals. Those administrative files helped spark the broader look at how Harahan was handing out public work.
Legal and local fallout
Earlier this year, FOX 8 (WVUE) reported that Galaforo had pleaded no contest before the licensing board and agreed to pay roughly $17,500 in fines for performing work without a contractor license. Local auditors and council members have questioned whether projects were carved into smaller pieces to stay under the thresholds that trigger licensing or formal bidding rules. With the criminal plea now on the books, the licensing board can still pursue additional administrative sanctions, and the entire episode has intensified calls for tighter, clearer oversight of municipal contracting in Harahan.
