Homeowners were promised affordable home improvements, but say they were delivered high payments, shoddy work and stress.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published March 21, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The problems began with a promise hung on their doorknobs.
The bright piece of paper shouted:
"ATTENTION: All home owners
Your complete district has been approved for:
OPERATION REDEVELOPMENT."
Residents might be eligible for assistance with bathroom remodeling, new roofs or central heating and air conditioning.
Further, the flier offered, pay off high interest credit cards and "save up to 50 percent or more each month" on bills.
"Call today," it instructed. "And start saving for tomorrow."
Many did, and now they regret it.
Viola Bell-Gayton, 46, and her husband Harold, 61, needed a new roof for their Childs Park home. Dorothea and Obey Freeman wanted to spruce up their 1934 Historic Kenwood house. And Cynthia Bayes and her partner, Deanna Curry, saw a way to transform the garage of their Midtown home into a bedroom.
But they and others say the promises dangled from their doors were broken. The fliers, they say, used sleight of hand to suggest that the too-good-to-be-true offer had come from the city of St. Petersburg. They say they ended up taking out high interest loans for work that was done shoddily or not at all, sometimes without permits.
The angry homeowners blame Frank Edmund Donofrio, 38, the man they came to know simply as "Eddie."
Donofrio operated under at least two different companies, Five Star Remodeling Consultants Inc. and Five Star Building Consultants, both based at his home in Park Place Estates, a deed-restricted community in Seminole.
"It's like we never knew this person," Mrs. Bell-Gayton said of the affable man who drove to her home either in a Hummer or red pickup truck.
Donofrio, who is not a contractor, denies any wrongdoing. The company involved, Five Star Remodeling Consultants, used a contractor's name and license to "qualify" as a builder, a legal and not uncommon practice. It is no longer in business, he said. His parents owned the company - both are now dead - and he says he was simply a sales representative.
Donofrio, who has been sued by at least one homeowner, has reached a settlement but is weeks behind completing the work he had promised. Several homeowners have filed complaints against him with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which would not comment.
Tom de Yampert, manager of the city of St. Petersburg's housing and community development office, had heard that residents were upset with Donofrio. "What I've been told is that they are getting taken advantage of," he said.
The city, he added, does not hang fliers on doors making such offers.
"We work diligently to remove predatory lenders and unlicensed and unscrupulous contractors and developers from our neighborhoods."
The Gaytons
For the Gaytons, the flier on their door seemed like a godsend. He is a lineman at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport. Depression and other ailments prevent her from working, so she receives a small disability check.
"We knew we needed to have a new roof on the house and we were looking for a way to have this done and also central heating and air," said Mrs. Bell-Gayton.
"When we saw that your complete district has been approved for operation renovation ... you think the city, the county."
They invited Donofrio to their modest home in April 2003. He checked their credit on his laptop and on April 29 signed a contract.
In June, after the roof had been finished and the central heat and air system installed, the closing for the $18,679.43 with almost 14 percent interest was conducted over the telephone.
Monthly payments were to be $246.38, higher than Donofrio had estimated. "He told us that the payments shouldn't be even $200 and once we got refinanced through his mortgage company, probably within 30 days, he would be able to get us an interest rate of about 7.5 percent," Mrs. Bell-Gayton said.
That did not happen.
In July, the summer rains arrived and the roof leaked. Almost a year later, everything is the same.
"We're kind of under a lot of stress," Mrs. Bell-Gayton said.
Obey and Dorothea M. Freeman
It was August 2002 when Mrs. Freeman called Donofrio.
"I thought I would get a good deal because it was something the city was doing," she said. "He came over the same day."
New wiring, a bathroom remodeling and new kitchen ceiling would cost around $16,900.
"He told me he could set me up with a mortgage company and it would be a low rate and that's when he showed me his loan officer card," Mrs. Freeman said.
"Two days later, the mortgage company called me and they said we had poor credit and that it would have to be a high mortgage rate."
Mrs. Freeman felt pressured.
"He was saying he already had the stuff ordered and the guys were ready to start the next day and he would help me find a mortgage."
There are problems in the bathroom.
"Ben, the plumber, he was supposed to have my bathroom done within four days and we would not be without a toilet. And we were without a toilet for four nights. We had to go outside or go to the nearest gas station," Mrs. Freeman said.
"The toilet was never secured and you sit on it and sometimes it rocks and when you get up it tips backward."
A U.S. Army veteran, Mrs. Freeman said she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and is schizophrenic.
"My medicine has been increased several times over all this," she said.
Her husband is a clerk at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.
"Eddie has caused me to be so financially tight. My first mortgage is $834 and my second is $544."
Cynthia Bayes and Deanna Curry
The women seethe when they talk about Donofrio. They, too, thought that his offer was connected to the city.
"We told him about that, but he never denied it," Ms. Bayes said.
The workers who came to their house ruined the carpet, damaged the fence and air conditioning, broke the alarm system and let their dogs out, she said.
"I'm still getting Tom, the painter, to work off my stuff," she said.
Donofrio told them it would cost about $16,000 to do the work they wanted, said Ms. Bayes, adding that she is upset about the financing.
She didn't realize until it was too late, she said, that what they had gotten was a second mortgage at almost 14 percent interest instead of a regular loan.
Donofrio defends himself
During an interview in his home, Donofrio said it had been impossible to please Ms. Bayes and Ms. Curry.
"Some people you can't make happy," he said. "I went there personally and I gave her $2,000. She takes the money and she still complains."
Ms. Bayes said the money was for damage to her property.
Donofrio also said that Ms. Bayes and Ms. Curry and the Gaytons signed completion papers saying they were satisfied with the work.
"I never actually signed the completion certificate," Ms. Bayes said, adding that she was harassed into approving it by telephone.
Sitting in his office Thursday, a brass name plate on his desk and family pictures on the wall and on shelves, Donofrio said that Five Star Remodeling Consultants Inc. had been owned by his parents. His father, also named Frank Donofrio, died in 2001. His mother, Rose "Pauline" Donofrio, died last August.
"When they passed away, the business was shut down immediately. I was basically a sales rep. When things are shutting down, things aren't run properly. Never at any point was it a company that said, "Let's go prey on people, give them big-interest loans,"' he said.
"I haven't done anything wrong and I stand by my family and I stand by my customers."
He added: "I would say there are two sides to every story."
Those who have hired him say they've heard it all before.
"If I call him now, he'll say he'll have someone over here, but he never will. ... He's real smooth," Mrs. Freeman said.
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court records show that Gulf Coast Legal Services is representing homeowner Edna Mae Blake, 67, in a suit against Donofrio. A settlement was reached, with Donofrio agreeing to start repairs at Mrs. Blake's 2751 37th St. S home by Jan. 5. He was supposed to complete them by Jan. 15. Donofrio has missed the deadline.
This is not the first time he has gotten into trouble. According to Florida Department of Law Enforcement, he has been arrested and charged with such offenses as robbery, battery, kidnapping and intimidation of a witness.
"Years ago we did pursue criminal charges against Donofrio," said Deborah Berry, an investigator for the Pinellas County Justice and Consumer Services Department.
"At that time he was doing business under Pinnacle Home Improvement."
He was charged with unlicensed roofing contracting, given probation and fined, Ms. Berry said.
She added that since 2002, the department has received six complaints against Five Star Remodeling Consultants.
Unscrupulous contractors prey on "the uninformed and people who have historically not been able to access mainstream lending," said de Yampert, St. Petersburg's manager of housing and community development.
"We are going to do whatever we can within the city to rectify any of these wrongs."
- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
For information
Homeowners can contact the City of St. Petersburg's Housing and Community Development office for information about its housing programs. Call (727) 893-7247.
