Owner of local plumbing company facing charges for allegedly taking money, never finishing jobs

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A couple in Greensburg contacted Channel 11 about ML Plumbing.

The owner, Mark Loughran, is currently facing three charges tied to a recent job. He believes those charges will be dropped.

“I would hate for this to happen to someone else,” said Karen Imhoff.

Karen Imhoff says this started in January when she and her husband hired Mark Loughran of ML Plumbing.

“The proposal was actually $11,050, and he took $5,525,” said Imhoff.

Imhoff says ML Plumping started the work by drilling up large sections of her basement floor and didn’t finish the job.

“They didn’t show up again after that,” said Imhoff. “I started to get suspicious.”

Imhoff says they called Loughran several times and then sent him a certified letter demanding to get their money back.

“He gave us our $5,000 back,” said Imhoff.

Imhoff decided to Google search Loughran, and this Channel 11 article from 2018 showed up. Back in 2018, a Scott Township homeowner accused Loughran of home improvement fraud. He pleaded guilty.

“I was just shocked,” said Imhoff. “How could we be so naive? Why didn’t we look this up first? Then I was angry that he was still in business.”

Channel 11 stopped by ML Plumbing in Greensburg. When no one came to the door, Channel 11′s Alyssa Raymond called Loughran, and he told her over the phone that people make mistakes.

“Just because you make poor mistakes in the past doesn’t mean you can’t change things around and move forward,” said Loughran.

Loughran says that based on his “prior problems,” he paid the money back plus some to try to make this go away.

“He basically blackmailed me for an extra $2,500,” said Loughran. “He said, ‘You give me another $2,500, we will make this go away.’ I discussed it, and I gave him the money in the interest of just making it go away. He withdrew the civil suit, and they turned around and withdrew the civil suit and filed a criminal case.”

Now as this plays out in court, Imhoff just wants people to beware.

“I don’t understand a person who’s had that many violations of the Home Improvement Contractor Law can say he has an HIC license,” said Imhoff. “It’s advertised all over his trucks. He had a huge billboard on Route 30 near Beatty Crossroads with the HIC number on it. And that’s my concern is that he’s going to keep doing this.”

Loughran is scheduled to be back in court early next year. He has been charged with deceptive business practice, theft by deception-false impression and receiving advance payment for services and failing to perform.

ML Plumbing has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. The bureau cites a pattern of complaints and a lack of response from the business about those complaints. The BBB says to always do your research on the company before hiring them, only pay deposits in thirds, and keep copies of all correspondence.

Imhoff also filed a complaint with the attorney general.

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