Remodeling contractor found guilty of scamming Tarrant County residents out of thousands

A remodeling contractor was sentenced to 47 years after a Tarrant County jury found him guilty Friday of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from customers for work he never did.

Chad Alan Cappiello of The Colony was found guilty of three counts of theft of property between $30,000 and $150,000. He has a history of theft accusations and convictions across the state.

“It was up to Tarrant County citizens to stop this man from moving on to the next town with a Cheshire cat grin on his face and his pocket filled with other people’s money,” said lead prosecutor John Newbern in a press release from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office.

The 48-year-old man faced up to life in prison on two of the counts and up to 20 years in prison on the third.

Cappiello is accused of stealing more than $58,000 from six Tarrant County victims, three of whom are elderly, in a three-month span beginning in March 15, 2017, according to court documents.

“This was a money grab,” said prosecutor Nathan Martin in the press release. “He didn’t earn a thing. He stole it.”

Cappiello has a history of theft convictions across the state and pending theft charges in Coryell and Jasper counties.

Most recently, in May 2017, he was sentenced to two years in state jail in Hopkins County after being convicted of stealing from a mother and daughter who had paid him more than $15,000 to remodel their kitchen.

Prosecutors have said he took money from the Tarrant County victims the week leading up to his Hopkins County trial and even after he was found guilty and was awaiting sentencing, according to court documents.

Prosecutors allege that Cappiello would meet with potential customers and that his wife would then call and harass the customers for payment. Once payments were made, the customers were either ignored or given numerous excuses why the work was delayed, they say.

The three elderly victims allegedly paid Cappiello a total of more than $33,000 and the three other victims more than $24,000, according to an indictment.

During the interactions with customers, he used the name “Chad Russell” to avoid people from learning on the internet about his past allegations and crimes, prosecutors have said.

This story was originally published May 10, 2019 at 5:09 PM.