Former Maine contractor indicted for stealing nearly $500,000 from customers

Lauren Abbate, Bangor Daily News, Maine
·1 min read

Mar. 25—ROCKLAND, Maine — The former owner of a now defunct construction company allegedly stole more than $500,000 from customers through deceptive business practices, according to the Maine Attorney General's Office.

Malcolm Stewart, 56, was indicted by a Knox County Grand Jury Thursday on a charge of theft by deception. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Stewart is currently living in South Carolina.

Stewart abruptly closed his Union-based business, Castle Builders, in September of 2019, leaving clients with unfinished projects that had already been paid and 22 employees out of work.

The indictment comes about one year after the attorney general's office filed a lawsuit against Stewart and his wife under the state's Unfair Trade Practices Law to prevent the couple from continuing to solicit business and to seek restitution for former customers.

The indictment alleges that Stewart had 57 customers pay deposits for home construction projects that "he knew he did not have the capacity to complete," according to a release from the attorney general's office.

The total amount of money Stewart gained through this process was over $400,000. Despite receiving deposits from these customers, Stewart usually performed no work for the money, but in a few instances a minimal amount of work was started, the release stated.

Stewart also received an advance $50,000 loan from two customers in December of 2018. He allegedly told the customers he had "cash flow problems because customers were not paying him," the attorney general's office said.

While he claimed to have the capacity to pay back the loan when the customers gave him money, Stewart never repaid the loan.

When arrested, the court has ordered that Stewart be held on $50,000 bail.

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