WARSAW — A Warsaw man has 15 pending criminal charges from nine different cases related to home improvement and check fraud.

Christopher Michael Lusso, 40, 49 EMS B61F Lane, Warsaw, is being charged with check deception, five charges of home improvement fraud, eight charges of check fraud and one charge of theft.

Christopher Michael Lusso

Most of the charges stem from Lusso, doing business as Clear Water Carpentry, taking money to provide home improvement services but not completing the work.

In December 2016, Lusso was hired to remodel a kitchen, bathroom and replace flooring at a Leesburg residence. Lusso started the work in January 2017 and advised that the work would take three weeks to complete. Shortly after starting the work, Lusso advised the homeowners that there was a plumbing issue and requested that the homeowners vacate the residence. Little work was done when the residents moved back into the residence in August 2017 and no further work was completed despite the homeowner contacting Lusso on multiple occasions. In total, the homeowners paid Lusso $15,369.

In September 2017, a homeowner entered a contract for Lusso to install a new roof on her home and agreed upon a $7,000 price tag. Lusso was given and cashed a check for half of the project, $3,500. No materials were ever delivered to the home and Lusso did not complete any of the work.

In November 2017, a local homeowner entered an agreement with Lusso to repair her yard and flooded basement. The two agreed upon a price of $3,500. The homeowner provided Lusso with her credit card number for the work. Over the next month, the homeowner’s credit card was used multiple times for a total of $6,232. The police report states that Lusso had not completed the agreed upon work as of Dec. 20, 2017.

In December 2017, a homeowner entered into a home improvement contract with Lusso for $20,000 to install a mobile home and properly connect it to electric, plumbing and a septic system. In the end, the homeowner paid Lusso $27,900, but Lusso made no attempt to complete the work that was agreed upon. Lusso did not pay the homeowner back for the work not being completed.

Several of the charges stem from Lusso paying companies for supplies or services and the checks returning due to insufficient funds or closed accounts. These included a $2,697.84 check to Touloukian Supplies, two $1,000 checks to Barbee Enterprises and two $2,982.50 checks to Clark’s Marina.

Lusso was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on June 13, with a $59,975 surety and cash bond.