Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Robert Patrick Riley is facing a new fraud charge tied to an incomplete pool project.
- Prosecutors say Riley accepted a down payment but didn't have a construction permit and didn't complete the work.
- Riley's company, Triton Pool and Spa, is linked to other similar cases.
FARMINGTON — Another criminal charge was filed Monday against a Morgan man who prosecutors say has a history of accepting money to build swimming pools but not completing the work.
Robert Patrick Riley, 49, was charged in 2nd District Court with communications fraud, a second-degree felony.
In 2023, Riley, who told clients that he "operated a construction business that installed pools," took a $20,000 down payment from a Hooper resident to build a pool, according to charging documents. The total price was just under $200,000 and Riley said the project would be completed by July 2023.
However, according to prosecutors, Riley was denied a construction permit by the city "due to insufficient information being supplied by (Riley). Specifically, (he) had failed to obtain or provide a soil test to obtain the permit." Riley, however, went ahead and broke ground on the project without a permit, the charges state.
By November 2023 the pool was still not completed, and in fact "little progress had been made on completion of the pool," according to the charges. The homeowner had paid more than $150,000 by August 2023 "with little to show for it. The pool frame was built and cement was poured, but little else was done."
When the homeowner was told the pool would not be completed until May of 2024, the homeowner did some investigating and discovered a building permit was never acquired. Furthermore, Riley "let his contractors' license expire on Nov. 30, 2023, but failed to disclose to (the homeowner) that he was no longer a licensed contractor," the charges allege.
Riley is facing similar charges in three other cases in Weber County in which he "took payment, started the work, but abandoned the project and never completed it," the charges state. Investigators say additional complaints were filed with the Utah Division of Professional Licensing from residents in Layton and Clinton.
Riley is charged with a total of three counts of communications fraud, theft and two counts of theft by deception, second-degree felonies, in his three other criminal cases.
In each case, prosecutors say Riley was the owner of Colloseo LLC, doing business as Triton Pool and Spa. He is accused of taking $112,000 from one client in 2022, $72,000 from another client in 2022, and $90,000 in 2023 from a third person and not completing the work on any of the projects.
