NORTH PORT, Fla — Investigators in Sarasota County said they have a warrant out for the arrest of a contractor who allegedly scammed elderly couples out of their money.
They said the victims wound up paying thousands of dollars to Sarkis Konsulian to build homes, but he kept asking for more and never finished.
According to police in North Port, Konsulian used his European background to target and gain the trust of his victims who were elderly immigrant couples, with some language barrier.
One family said they had to go ahead and find a way to build their retirement home after the contractor took off with their money.
"It's been a lot of difficulties because every step we have to find the contractors and then hire and go step by step,' homeowner Zofia Kaczor said.
Kaczor said she and her husband gave Konsulian $100,000 and signed a contract with him to finish the house by late spring of last year before he absconded.
"In February, I heard rumors that he stole money, and he went to Moscow," she said.
The North Port Police Department said the contractor was last traced to a flight from Sarasota Bradenton airport to Istanbul Turkey in April 2022 and was suspected to be en route to Russia.
They said Konsulian shut down his business and left the Kaczors and other families with just an empty lot, no home and short on funds.
Detectives say there are up to 40 cases in total between Charlotte and Sarasota counties with seven of them in North Port alone.
"After signing the contracts with the victims, they would then give a minimum of 10% to the contractor. If the victims can afford more then they would provide more," Detective David Brown with North Port police said.
Some other victims forked over anything between $35,000 and $90,000 which they all wire-transferred to Konsulian's Bank of America account. Some of them got multiple requests to make chunks of payments under the guise of purchasing building materials for the home construction that never took off.
"We're trying to seek justice for these people. They are trying to build a home here in our city and for someone to victimize them and take their money and run, that's not right at all," Brown said.
Investigators say Konsulian was licensed to legally operate but they are looking into his motives for not executing the projects and fleeing the country. For now, he is faced with larceny charges with more charges likely pending a review by the district attorney's office.
"He has to go to prison," Kaczor said.
Police have urged that if residents believe they may have been in a similar situation with Konsulian or any other contractor for that matter, they should contact them immediately.