GREENFIELD — The Indiana attorney general is suing a Greenfield contractor, accusing him of receiving about $100,000 in down payments from Indiana residents for jobs he never completed.
The complaint, filed in Hancock County Superior Court 1, is against Robert Mills and his business Strong-Back Construction, whose address is listed at a home in the 1000 block of East Apple Lake Drive in Greenfield. Mills also did work under Indiana Concrete, an unregistered business, according to the complaint.
The complaint refers to eight customers Mills contracted with since July 2016 to perform various home improvement services. After signing contracts and receiving down payments, he failed to complete those services, the complaint says.
Customers listed in the complaint are from Indianapolis, Fairland, Franklin, Columbus, Seymour and Greenwood. The services for which they contracted with Mills included building garages, patios, barns, a driveway and a basketball court.
Mills’ “actions are unfair, abusive and deceptive, and constitute violations of the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and Home Improvement Contracts Act,” according to the complaint.
The complaint seeks restitution for all of the customers except one who got his down payment back from Mills’ insurance company. The complaint also seeks civil penalties payable to the state.
No legal counsel is listed for Mills in any of the case’s records, and attempts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful.
In 2018, Hancock County Superior Court 1 Judge Terry Snow ordered Mills to pay a Spiceland man more than $76,000. Mills received a down payment for building a room addition, roofing and interior work that he never carried out, according to that complaint.
Court records indicate Mills has yet to pay any of the debt as of Nov. 13.
Another lawsuit is pending against Mills in Hancock County Circuit Court. A Greenwood resident — not the same one mentioned in the attorney general’s suit — filed the complaint in February 2019, accusing Mills of never completing the garage he was contracted to build after receiving a $13,000 down payment. The complaint states the Greenwood resident is entitled to the return of the down payment and damages.
