Trumbull County contractor sentenced to 2-3 years in prison after stealing money from client
A Trumbull County contractor has been sentenced to 3 years max on Friday, April 11 for stealing money from a client.
The 38-year-old Jeffrey Hughes had signed a contract with Fred Schuster of Columbiana County in August of 2022 to add an addition to his house for his grandchildren.
"He never showed up. I called him and my wife called him almost every week. Finally I told him 'You have to come out by this date or don't come out,'" said Schuster.
Hughes told Schuster that he had already bought the materials yet had still never came to the house to do the work nor dropped the materials off to have someone else do the work.
Hughes tried to arrange with Schuster to help pay him back by October of that year, but no money was given back to him in the almost three years that followed.
"I want justice on my part against him," said Schuster. "I don't believe I'll get the money back but I want him to pay some consequences for what he did to me and my wife in our senior years."
According to Columbiana Judge Megan Bickerton, Hughes reported to his sentence hearing testing positive for drugs.
Judge Bickerton let it known the circumstances that lead to Hughes' sentencing in court, both past and present.
"You have talked your way out of jail and prison time for the past 20 years," said Judge Bickerton.
Below is the previous story 21 News wrote on this case.
