Contractor sentenced; family still not settled

Although the man who stole their retirement savings is behind bars, the Bair family still feels like they haven't received justice.

This month, unlicensed contractor Daniel Jackson was sentenced to 180 days in the Lyon County Jail and ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution to the homeowners he swindled.

"Our feeling is that he's never going to pay us," said Darrell Bair, who lives in Dayton with his wife, Karen. "What he's going to do is skip from the state as soon as he gets out of jail.

"We really didn't get any justice."

They wanted to build a family room onto their Dayton manufactured home. Instead, they got a dirt lot with rebar sticking up out of the cement foundation.

Despite the Bairs' dire prediction, Jackson was ordered to report to parole and probation after his term and set up a restitution-payment plan.

The Bairs learned the hard way what can happen when you hire an unlicensed contractor to build an addition for a low-ball price. The Nevada State Contractors Board recommends consumers to check the license of all potential contractors - which is something the Bairs didn't do.

Now they're sitting with four storage units full of furniture that was supposed to go into their new family room. The monthly payments on those storage units are $447. They've paid $11,000 in storage fees since the whole fiasco began in 2004. They don't want to sell the furniture; they want their family room.

"This isn't the way we planned on spending the rest of our lives, needing money again," said Bair, 55. "We thought that was all behind us."

Michael Bongard, Lyon County deputy district attorney, said the court also ordered Jackson to get alcohol-addiction counseling at the Salvation Army.

Jackson pleaded guilty Nov. 13 in district court to a felony count of diversion of funds. If Jackson violates his probation, he could serve 14 to 48 months in prison. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail by the Dayton justice of the peace for a misdemeanor count of contracting without a license.

To verify a contractors' license, call 688-1141 or visit www.nscb.state.nv.us.

• Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.