BR home builder booked on felony theft, misapplication of payments
Payments demanded from clients
by robert stewart
Advocate staff writer
February 07, 2013
Authorities on Tuesday arrested a 45-year-old homebuilder accused of failing to pay more than 30 subcontractors more than $528,000 on four homebuilding projects
in the Baton Rouge area in 2012, according to arrest warrants.
Quinn Martin, 7912 Willow Grove Blvd., Baton Rouge, was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison by state attorney general investigators on 54 counts of misapplication of payments by a contractor and four counts of felony theft.
Martin’s Baton Rouge-based company, QMI Custom Homes, entered into homebuilding contracts, worth a total of $1,865,477, with four different parties in 2012, the warrants say.
The five victims on those four projects received liens and payment demand notices from 32 of Martin’s subcontractors for a combined $528,666 the subcontractors were owed, the warrants say.
The warrants say Martin acknowledged to his clients and subcontractors that money and additional work were owed but said he did not have the money and did not offer further explanation.
Phone calls left at Martin’s office for comment were not returned Wednesday, and emails sent through the QMI Custom Homes website went unanswered.
All of the victims’ names were redacted in the arrest warrants.
In one case, an unidentified man contracted QMI Custom Homes on Jan. 8, 2012, to build a home in Prairieville for $449,016, the warrant says.
The man had paid $403,664 to the company as of Oct. 12, the warrant says.
As of Jan. 10, 14 subcontractors had sent liens and payment demand notices for $84,925, the warrants say.
On March 1, two other people entered into a $452,234 contract with Martin to build a home in Baton Rouge, the warrant says.
The pair had paid Martin $373,752 toward the project as of Oct. 5, the warrant says.
The pair began receiving liens from unpaid subcontractors in early December and by Jan. 10 had received 13 liens and demand payments from subcontractors totaling $106,979, the warrant says.
Another customer entered into a $350,000 contract with Martin’s company on June 23 to build a house in Baton Rouge, the warrant says. The victim had paid $237,660 as of Nov. 28.
The victim also began receiving liens from unpaid subcontractors in mid-December and has received $118,893 worth of liens and demand notices from 13 subcontractors as of Jan. 10, the warrant says.
The victim has spoken to other contractors about completing the home for between $130,000 to $150,000, the warrant says.
A fifth victim entered into a $614,227 contract with Martin’s company on Aug. 1 to build a house on another Baton Rouge lot, the warrant says.
The victim had paid $202,845 to the company as of Dec. 18, the warrant says.
The victim received liens and demand notices from 15 subcontractors for a total of $217,869, the warrant says.
Authorities examined the unfinished home and found the exterior was incomplete, the warrant says. The victim said he is trying to hire another contractor to complete construction.