An Indianapolis man has been arrested and charged after police said he damaged home roofs in Greenwood and then collected the insurance money to make repairs to them.
Joshua David York, 26, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of home improvement fraud and criminal mischief, which are misdemeanors.
At least three homeowners in Greenwood told police that in the spring and summer of 2018, York inspected their roofs, found damage and encouraged them to turn the damage into their insurance and have him do the work, according to multiple charging documents filed in Johnson County Superior Court 3.
One homeowner told police she agreed to have York check her home’s roof, and he told her there was weather damage. The woman put a claim into her insurance company and told the insurance inspector she was not having problems with her roof prior to York’s involvement, court documents said.
Her roof was inspected in June 2018 and her insurance company gave her a check for about $11,500 to get the roof work completed, according to court documents.
The woman’s insurance adjuster told police when his company worked with American Dream Home Improvement, he noticed on claims where York was involved, the roof damage was all very similar, namely the damage looked to be man-made and made to mimic wind and hail damage.
The adjuster told police that he began to order engineering reports on roofs that involved York, and the engineers wrote that the damage looked to be man-made, court documents said.
A second homeowner told police he asked York to look at his roof in March 2018 because one shingle was flipped up. York looked at the roof and circled problem areas. When an insurance employee inspected the roof, he found 30 shingles out of place on the roof, but the damage was not caused by weather and there was not a significant weather event in the area in the days leading up to the claim, court documents said.
A third homeowner had her roof inspected by York and he encouraged her to make a claim. A forensic engineering inspector checked the roof and said the damage was not caused by weather and there was no recent weather in the area that would have caused the damage, court documents said.
In late summer 2019, police began trying to reach York about the allegations, but when an officer went to the American Dream Home Improvement office at 8350 S. Emerson Ave., Indianapolis, York was never there. At other times when the officer went, the office was locked and dark, according to court documents.
A company spokesperson said York is still an employee, and the company tried to reach out to Greenwood police for more information about the allegations, but they would not provide any.
“We have interviewed the employee in question, and he has denied any act of wrongdoing and informed us that the allegations have no merit,” the company said in a written statement. “The Greenwood area has sustained significant storms, many of which sustained 60-plus mph wind damage, in the past couple of years and we have been able to successfully work with dozens of local homeowners to repair their homes. It is our stance that these allegations could potentially stem from misunderstandings between homeowners and their insurance carriers.”
A warrant was issued and York, 11720 Sinclair St., was arrested over the weekend and taken to the Johnson County jail, where he was released on $1,000 bond.
