Marcellus contractor charged in $3,500 home improvement theft case

A Marcellus contractor was arrested Tuesday in an alleged $3,500 home-improvement theft case that Oswego County deputies say may have affected more than one homeowner. Investigators say Paul Conklin, 67, took money for work that was never completed, then drew scrutiny that began last August.

Lt. Andrew Bucher said the job was supposed to be done in Volney, in Oswego County, after Conklin allegedly accepted $3,500 for home-improvement work and did not finish it. The case puts a local contractor accused of a relatively modest sum at the center of a broader fraud inquiry, with deputies now telling the public they believe there may be additional victims.

Conklin, who lives in Marcellus in Onondaga County, was charged with third-degree grand larceny and misappropriation of funds of trust. He was arraigned at Oswego County’s centralized arraignment court and then released. Deputies said he does business as Capital Home Improvements and Capital Home Construction, LLC.

The investigation has now moved beyond a single alleged unpaid job. Authorities are asking anyone with information, or anyone who believes they were victimized, to contact the Oswego County Sheriff’s Office. That call for more complainants suggests investigators are trying to determine whether the alleged conduct was an isolated dispute over a contract or part of a wider pattern tied to the same name and the same businesses.

For Onondaga County homeowners, the case turns on a familiar risk: paying before work is done and then trying to track down a contractor after the job stalls. Here, deputies said the money was tied to a promised home-improvement project that never got completed, and the business names now attached to the case are Capital Home Improvements and Capital Home Construction, LLC.