I’ve covered crooks from Capitol Hill to back-alley Baton Rouge, and the script never changes: money moves, work stalls, victims curse. Nicole Ross watched her son suffer third-degree burns saving what he could from their burning house in 2023; eighteen months later she’s still watching an unfinished rebuild while a contractor cashed $130,000 of her insurance cash. If that doesn’t make your blood pressure spike, check your pulse.
The $130,000 Ghost Job
Ross signed with Austin Pooler, trading as A&M Construction, for a six-month turnaround. The mortgage company released funds in phases—standard practice—yet Pooler allegedly kept drawing cash faster than he swung a hammer. Ross told WAFB:
“By the time I got involved, he was already in phase eight. And then there were things in other phases that weren’t done that he was paid to do.”
She’d swing by the lot and find it empty. Texts went unanswered. Inspectors failed portions of the work, but checks still cleared. That’s not a scheduling hiccup; that’s a roadmap for fraud.
A Pattern, Not a Mistake
East Baton Rouge deputies already had a warrant out for Pooler in a separate home-improvement case—two checks, $22,000, same playbook: promise, pocket, vanish. The state licensing board suspended A&M Construction last June. Pooler now sits in West Baton Rouge on yet another residential-contractor fraud count, this time for $17,000. Add Ross’s police report and you’ve got a serial pattern, not a one-off slip-up.
Old-School Rules Still Work
The Louisiana Licensing Board repeats the same three commandments my city editor barked in 1982:
- Never pay cash
- Always get a dated, signed receipt
- Never pay for work you can’t see and touch
Simple? Sure. Followed? Rarely. Homeowners get spooked by deadlines, contractors wave “urgent material orders,” and the next thing you know the money’s gone. Same story applies whether you’re remodeling a kitchen or hiring a freelance coder halfway around the globe.
Freelancers, You’re Not Immune
Think this is just a homeowner problem? Ask the last client who “forgot” to pay your final milestone. Freelancers live invoice-to-invoice; one vanished check can torch your monthly budget faster than a house fire. You need the same hard-nosed documentation the licensing board preaches, minus the carbon paper.
Tools like Invoice Gini let you spit out a professional PDF the minute work hits a benchmark. State the terms, time-stamp the delivery, and track when the client opens the bill. No more “the check’s in the mail” ghost stories.
Bottom Line: Paper Beats Promises
Ross’s contractor reportedly texted her asking for a convenient inspection day, then went radio silent. A paper trail—dated invoices, phase photos, lien releases—would have given her the ammunition to freeze payments and alert authorities before phase eight turned into phase fiction.
If you’re a freelancer, run your business like a skeptical editor: verify, document, then release the funds. Your wallet—and your sanity—will thank you.
Source: Local woman says contractor took insurance money, left fire-damaged home unfinished