Customers accuse tree trimmer of taking money, not doing work

Marty Franz said she thought Jeramiah Cubarney was such a nice guy, she invited him to dinner.

"We thought he was a nice person,” she said. "My mother even cooked dinner for him, had he and his workers eat supper with us."

Franz told Channel 11 she and her 85-year-old mother, who is disabled, hired Cubarney, of Cubarney Tree Service, to cut down a large tree and haul it away back in January.

TRENDING NOW:

• Crews battle massive fire at Armstrong County trucking company
• Search over: JuJu Smith-Schuster's bike found in Mt Oliver
• 5 teens charged with 2nd-degree murder in rock-throwing death
• VIDEO: Possible Tampa serial killer prompts safety measures

She showed Channel 11 the tree - it's still piled next to the driveway. Franz says they paid him but the work didn’t get done. And they aren’t the only ones with that problem.

“Oh no, there's quite a few other people,” she said.

Channel 11 was in court Wednesday when Cubarney was arraigned on charges of home improvement fraud. So far, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office says there are more than a dozen victims, mostly in northern Allegheny County.

All of them paid Cubarney hundreds and even thousands of dollars for tree trimming and removal but the jobs werw either incomplete or never done.

According to Cubarney’s attorney, anything he did or did not do was due to drug addiction.

“We've gotten him into a rehab facility and we’re going to go from there,” Nicole Nino said. “Everything is placed on hold until he gets the treatment he needs.”

The DA’s office says there are victims in Richland and Hampton townships, as well as West Deer. Nino said Cubarney intends to pay them all back.

Cox Media Group