GREENSBURG, Pennsylvania — A couple in Greensburg contacted Channel 11 about ML Plumbing.
The owner, Mark Loughran, is currently facing three charges related to a recent job. He believes those charges will be dropped.
“I would hate if that happened to anyone else,” Karen Imhoff said.
Karen Imhoff says it all started in January when she and her husband hired Mark Loughran from ML Plumbing.
“The proposal was actually $11,050, and he accepted $5,525,” Imhoff said.
Imhoff says ML Plumping started the work by drilling out large sections of her basement floor and didn’t finish the job.
“They didn’t show up after that,” Imhoff said. “I started to get suspicious.”
Imhoff says they called Loughran several times and then sent him a certified letter demanding their money back.
“He gave us back our $5,000,” Imhoff said.
Imhoff chose to Google search Loughran, and this Channel 11 article from 2018 popped 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 that up before? Then I was mad that he was still in business.”
Channel 11 stopped at ML Plumbing in Greensburg. When no one answered the door, Channel 11’s Alyssa Raymond called Loughran and he told her over the phone that people make mistakes.
“Just because you’ve made terrible mistakes in the past doesn’t mean you can’t change things and move forward,” Loughran said.
Loughran says he returned the money due to his “past problems,” plus something to try and fix it.
“He basically extorted an extra $2,500 from me,” Loughran said. “He said, ‘You give me another $2,500, we’re going to make that go away.’ “I talked about it and I gave him the money to just make it go away. He withdrew the civil suit and they turned around and withdrew the civil suit and filed a criminal case.”
Now that this is playing out in court, Imhoff just wants people to pay attention.
“I don’t understand how a person who has had so many violations of the Home Improvement Act can say they have an HIC license,” Imhoff said. “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 is my concern that he will continue like this.”
Loughran is due back in court early next year. He is accused of deceptive business practices, theft by deception – false impression and receiving advance payment for services and non-performance.
ML Plumbing has an F rating from the Better Business Bureau. The office cites a pattern of complaints and a lack of response from the company to those complaints. The BBB says you should always research the company before hiring, only make deposits to third parties, and keep copies of all correspondence.
Imhoff also filed a complaint with the Attorney General.
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