DERRY TWP., Pa. — A Westmoreland County family’s home has been exposed to the elements and left with multiple incomplete projects for months, after a contractor allegedly took their money and ran.
Roy Povlik, 39, is facing felony criminal charges for the unfinished work, including theft by deception.
“We don’t want him to do this to anybody else,” said Ashley Love.
Ashley and her husband, Brion, hired Povlik in late 2020 to redo their roof and siding, construct a front and back porch, and build a ramp to make their Derry Township home more accessible for their 11-year-old son.
“He’s handicapped, and he’s almost 70 pounds, and it’s hard to take him up and down steps in his wheelchair,” Ashley said.
They paid Povlik more than $20,000. After signing the contract, the couple tells Channel 11 that Povlik “would come and do little odds and end, nothing major that he had to buy materials to bring.”
He began work on the roof and constructed the front porch, but neither were completed correctly, Brion said. Eventually, he stopped showing up.
“From December to May, we had no roof on our house, just plastic.”
The couple says their utility bills skyrocketed and they faced significant leaks in multiple rooms.
Fortunately, a local church stepped in and helped pay for some repairs, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
The family is currently living paycheck to paycheck. Ashley is on maternity leave and Brion recently was injured at his job, he said. He used a settlement from that injury to pay Povlik, and doesn’t have the savings to pay for the work to be completed.
“I don’t like to ask for help, but I have no where else to turn,” Brion said. “I’m so stressed out over this house. I don’t sleep at night.”
The family has launched a gofundme to help pay for the work to be completed.
Povlik is currently out on bond and due in court for a preliminary hearing this October. According to court records, he currently resides in Follansbee, West Virginia. Reached over the phone, his attorney had no comment at this time.
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