Ohio customers speak out about contractor: ‘I just can’t stand that he’s doing this to everybody’

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Two people are accusing a local contractor of ripping them off, and both cases wound up in court.

As the customers tell it, in each instance, the contractor never showed.

“I am not going to stop pursuing this,” said customer Eric Wolfman. “I don’t care how much money I spend. I’ll spend double the amount I lost. It doesn’t matter to me.”

Wolfman is on a mission: He says the man he hired to fix up his home kept asking for more money.

Then, he says, instead of finishing the job, the contractor stopped responding.

He’s not the only one.

“I just want him exposed so he doesn’t do this to anybody else,” said customer Karen Stilson.

Stilson hired the same contractor for a drywall and paint job in a home she was renting.

It was the same story. She says he asked for more money before finally going silent.

That man’s name is Kevin Waycaster.

They both found him on Craigslist and paid him up front. They have the receipts to show for it.

But after the work slowed to a stop, they started getting excuses.

“I did feel bad for him when he said he was sick and couldn’t inhale chemicals,” said Stilson.

In Wolfman’s case, he said Waycaster told him he needed $4,000 by the end of the week or he’d be kicked out of his home, so Wolfman gave him more money for future projects.

“Once he got that money, I never heard from him again,” said Wolfman.

So Wolfman and Stilson took him to court, and records show in both cases, Waycaster never showed.

There’s two sides to every story, so I called Waycaster myself to get his side of things.

He wouldn’t let me record his response, but he explained in Stilson’s case, he didn’t have permission to work from the owner of her rental home, so he cut ties.

As for Wolfman, Waycaster said he had medical issues getting in the way of him working, and he claims Wolfman started threatening him, so he no longer felt comfortable in his home.

Waycaster seemed to have explanations for the unfinished jobs, but when it came to the lawsuits, he claimed he’s unaware he’s ever been sued.

According to court documents, a judge has ruled against Waycaster and ordered him to pay money in at least five civil cases.

Records show he’s also been charged with misdemeanor theft.

Copyright 2023 WOIO. All rights reserved.