Painter Charged With Forging Client Checks

DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

TIME: 4:37 p.m.

LOCATION: 5190 Kensington High St., North Naples

ARRESTED: Joseph Amando Nicolo, 24, 4442 Wilder Road, North Naples

CHARGES: Forgery, uttering a forged instrument and gross fraud

SUMMARY: Collier County Sheriff’s Office investigators say Nicolo defrauded a North Naples couple after forging a check they gave him as a down payment to paint their house in early February.

Investigators arrested Nicolo on a warrant just as he arrived at another client’s house to collect payment after trying to cash an altered check.

Reports gave this account:

Alrene and Jerry Bouska met with Nicolo, whom they were referred to by a neighbor, on Feb. 9 to get an estimate to paint the inside of their residence in Pelican Bay. Nicolo told them he was the owner of Heavenly Homes and specialized in painting and rescreening.

The couple wrote him a check for $300 as a down payment. He left with the check and never returned.

A couple days later the neighbor told Arlene Bouska that she was having trouble with Nicolo and thought he was dishonest.

Arlene Bouska contacted her bank and discovered that the check for $300 she gave Nicolo had been cashed for $3,000 on Feb. 11. Bouska went to the bank, where officials gave her a copy of the check, which she confirmed had been altered.

Nicolo was identified in bank surveillance photos and by bank officials as the person who cashed the altered check.

A warrant was issued for Nicolo’s arrest.

Another woman told deputies that she gave Nicolo a check for $750 for a small painting job at her residence. She was contacted by her bank, which told her that Nicolo attempted to cash the check at two locations for $2,750, but was unsuccessful.

Nicolo then contacted the woman and told her he would stop by her house at 4:30 Wednesday so she could pay him again.

Deputies positioned themselves around the woman’s home, awaiting his arrival. Nicolo showed up and was taken into custody.