LURAY, Va. (WHSV) – A major trial in Page County wrapped up on Friday. Allen and Sabrina Knott, the owners of Knott’s Roofing, were found guilty of 94 combined counts of construction fraud, obtaining money by false pretenses, and conspiracy to commit both of those crimes.
The case was massive and took a three-year investigation with many people in Page County working together to ensure justice was served. The crimes occurred over 13 months from January 2020 to late January 2021 and the case included 24 victims. The case originally had 33 victims but some of them decided not to take part in the case over the last two years.
According to Page County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Cave, the company was taking down deposits for roofing work and never actually doing the work.
“We had a 13-month span here where these 24 people were basically left high and dry waiting for this roof. We had testimony by some of these individuals who were waiting on this roof to get the house sold, some of these individuals had significant leaks they were trying to get fixed,” Cave said in an interview with WHSV on Monday.
Knott’s Roofing had been operating in Page County since 2002 and for years had a great reputation.
“Many of our victims testified in court that they contacted the Knotts either because they had done work for them in the past or they knew people that had done work for them and so they were relying on their reputation,” said Cave.
Cave said that sometime around 2018 or 2019 Knott’s Roofing began having financial struggles and then in 2020 began taking deposits from the victims ranging from $1,200-$12,000. Cave said the company never purchased materials or returned to do work for any of the victims.
“We’re not talking folks that could easily afford just to lose 5,6, 8, 10 thousand dollars and have nothing to show. These were folks that were spending their hard-earned money to rely on the goodwill of the Knotts and were trusting them and they were just left holding the bag,” said Cave.
Cave’s argument in the trial was that the Knott’s never intended to fulfill the roofing contracts they entered into with the victims. He said the defense argued that the Knott’s did intend to do the work but hadn’t gotten around to it and were using the deposits to get materials for other jobs that needed to be completed.
“As I articulated in closing when you use money from Customer B to finish Customer A and you take money from Customer C to finish Customer B, that’s all fine and good until there is no Customer D and someone is left holding the bag,” said Cave.
Cave credited the many people who worked on the Knott case with helping to bring justice, including the original investigator on the case, former Page County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Megan Morris. Morris now lives in Louisiana but stayed in contact to help with the case.
Cave said that the Knott case was personal for him in a way because it hit close to home.
“I took it quite personally as someone who lived and grew up here and grew up in a household where my father was in construction and was a contractor. I took this case very personally because these were people and types of people that I know. No one can afford to be stolen from but I really took great offense at the people that were stolen from,” Cave said. “I probably poured about as much of my energy into this case as anything I may have ever done as an attorney and I know my Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Mr. Andrew Harding did the same thing.”
Cave said that after entering into a contract with the Knotts nearly all the victims in the case testified that it was almost impossible to get in touch with them again.
Allen and Sabrina Knott were each convicted on 24 counts of obtaining money by false pretenses, 21 counts of construction fraud, 1 count of conspiracy to obtain money by false pretenses, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit construction fraud.
Each victim in the case got a conviction on one or both charges so the Commonwealth can move forward with a restitution at a later date.
The Knotts will be sentenced on February 14, 2024.
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