A local home repairman convicted of bilking an 88-year-old Vancouver woman of more than $52,000 was sentenced Wednesday to nearly nine years in prison.
Chris McNicholas, 46, of Woodland was found guilty by a Clark County Superior Court jury in July of nine counts of forgery and one count each of first-degree identity theft and first-degree theft. He pleaded guilty to being an unlicensed contractor, a gross misdemeanor.
The jury also found a total of 22 aggravating factors, based on the victim’s vulnerability and for the crime being a major economic offense. An aggravating factor is any circumstance that increases the severity or culpability of a crime.
Senior Deputy Prosecutor Abbie Bartlett argued the victim was particularly vulnerable because she suffers from cognitive issues, possibly caused by age.
The victim paid McNicholas, the former owner of construction-related businesses, for home repair services that were never performed and, according to the prosecution, were later determined to be unnecessary. The scam went on from April to September 2014, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Superior Court.
During that time, McNicholas deposited 19 checks from the victim, 17 of which were determined to be forged. Three of the victim’s checkbooks were also missing, the affidavit states.
McNicholas represented himself as an employee with contracting company GreenTech Innovations, court records said, which hasn’t been registered with the state since at least 2013.
He is also facing felony charges in a similar Clark County case and four Cowlitz County cases, all of which involve elderly victims. In many of the cases, McNicholas allegedly represented himself as an employee with GreenTech Innovations or Pacific Coast Vinyl and Remodeling, according to a press release from the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.
Cowlitz County authorities last year searched McNicholas’ car and found documents that suggested he was being investigated by state and local police agencies there and in Clark County for similar alleged frauds, costing victims up to tens of thousands of dollars, according to The Longview Daily News.
During his two-hour sentencing, Bartlett said McNicholas “preyed on the victim’s vulnerabilities.” She asked the judge to sentence McNicholas to 12.5 years in prison, a longer-than-normal sentence based on the aggravating factors.
McNicholas’ attorney, Josephine Townsend, requested that her client be sentenced within the standard range — a maximum of seven years — and be evaluated for DOSA, the Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative program, which allows offenders to serve half their time in prison and half at home, where they receive drug treatment.
Bartlett argued that even if a global resolution was reached between the Clark and Cowlitz counties cases, DOSA was not going to be an option. Judge Derek Vanderwood declined to order the evaluation, in part because he didn’t think it would be possible for McNicholas to serve a DOSA sentence if he is convicted in his pending cases.
McNicholas told the judge he was disappointed with his decision and stressed that he needs substance abuse treatment.
He apologized to the victim and her family, who were not present, and spoke about his addiction issues and how they “blurred” his perception. McNicholas said he had managed to get clean once but relapsed a few years ago after his business felt the effects of the recession.
Vanderwood sentenced McNicholas to 106 months in prison on the felony charges; 364 days on the gross misdemeanor, to be suspended for 24 months; and 12 months of community custody. He was given credit for 448 days in custody.
