Contractor pleads to scamming derecho victims out of thousands

CEDAR RAPIDS — A contractor who scammed one elderly Cedar Rapids widow out of more than $4,000 to repair her roof damaged in the 2020 derecho, along with several others in the surrounding area, pleaded last week in federal court.

Scott Gregory Adkins, 48, who did business as “Adkins Home Improvements LLC,” was convicted of one count of wire fraud. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, Adkins admitted that he devised a scheme to defraud his customers, including victims of the derecho, from December 2020 through March 2022. Adkins organized his home improvement company in October 2020, about two months after the devastating storm.

Adkins offered home repair services to victims of the derecho, as well as other individuals in the Cedar Rapids area who needed projects completed in the “tight-labor, post-derecho construction market,” prosecutors said.

As a part of his scheme, Adkins offered to provide construction services and materials to prospective customers. He provided estimates to those customers and demanded substantial advance deposits or down payments before starting the projects.

Instead of completing the projects, Adkins spent some of the funds on personal expenses, including food, and transferred some of the money to a family member through a mobile payment service.

Adkins also made false statements and excuses to his customers about the status of their projects to conceal his illicit use of the funds and to “lull his customers into a false sense of security,” prosecutors said.

Adkins stole more than $177,000 from 19 derecho and other victims in the scams, including taking more than $4,000 as a down payment from the elderly Cedar Rapids widow who needed her roof repaired. After Adkins received a check from the widow, he deposited it and never did the work.

He also wrote a “worthless” check for more than $11,400 to a Cedar Rapids home improvement store on July 2021, knowing the check wasn’t valid and “acted with intent to defraud,” the plea stated. Adkins also made false statements to the home improvement store to cover up his crime, including blaming a homeowner for not paying him.

U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard Strand will sentence Adkins after a presentencing report is completed. He faces up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release following any prison term.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Vavricek and was investigated by the FBI and the Cedar Rapids Police Department.

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