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ST. GEORGE — A southern Utah plumber apprentice was charged Thursday with deceiving an elderly man into making thousands of dollars in purchases — some of which he didn't need — in order to profit from a sales bonus.
Kadin Boyd Carson, 34, of Hurricane, is charged in 5th District Court with two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a second-degree felony, and two counts of forgery, a third-degree felony.
The case involves an 85-year-old man who was hospitalized in 2022 and spent 18 months in a rehabilitation center after being released. He was able to return home in May 2023.
When he got home he found a leak under his sink, something he was first notified of when he was in the rehabilitation center, according to charging documents.
A repair company was called and Carson responded to the home. He told the man "the home had been built with polybutylene pipes, which have not been used since 1995 in new construction," the charges state. Polybutylene is a plastic used mainly between 1978 and 1995 for piping, but was found to break after about 10 years.
In August 2023, the elderly man consented to have his pipes replaced and was charged approximately $14,500 by Carson, according to investigators.
"While performing the requested services (Carson) informed (the man) that the duct work would need to be removed and reinstalled to complete the work," and the man was charged another $11,500 for the HVAC work, the charges state.
But prosecutors say the "two service agreements for the work were never signed by (the elderly man) nor was he shown the documents prior."
Carson later claimed to the Division of Professional Licensing that he had signed for the man "and that he was trained to do that," the charges state.
A neighbor then told the elderly man he did not believe the work at his home was being done correctly. Another contractor was called to the house to inspect Carson's work.
"None of the repiping had been within compliance with the local building code. Several of the new … pipes had been connected to the existing polybutylene, a violation of the building code. A master plumber was called in to inspect the job as well. The master plumber determined that the plumbing was not up to code, was not necessary, and that the HVAC duct work did not need to be removed," the charging documents allege.
Prosecutors also noted in the court documents that Carson "was neither a journeyman nor master plumber at the time he worked on (the) home, rather he was an apprentice. As an apprentice (he) should have been overseen by a more experienced plumber."
Because Carson received 10% for all the jobs he sold, the charges accuse him of selling services to the elderly man "that were not needed based on deceptive sales tactics with the intent to earn the 10% bonus awarded for each sale."
