Contractor found guilty of theft
A roofing contractor is found guilty of theft and is heading to jail. His victims say it’s been a long time coming.
EAST TROY, Wis. – A roofing contractor is found guilty of theft and is heading to jail. His victims say it’s been a long time coming.
It’s been nearly two years since Contact 6 visited Donald Tillung in East Troy to talk about the contractor who’d violated his trust.
“He’s a very good person with talking about things and promising the world,” Tillung told Contact 6 in 2022.
Tillung paid Bo Bradley Croswell of Platinum Construction more than $21,000 for a metal roof that was never installed. He said Croswell only tore off a 20-foot section of the roof.
“We unfortunately had to pay someone else to come back out and put the roof back on the property,” said Tillung at the time.
Nearly six months after Tillung’s meeting with Contact 6, Croswell was charged with one count of felony theft by contractor and five misdemeanor home improvement violations for Tillung’s project.
On March 1, Croswell appeared in Walworth County Court and pleaded guilty to the felony charge. The misdemeanor counts were dismissed.
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Prior to sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Samuel Berg said that Croswell “made demonstrably false statements” to Tillung. He said that Croswell has a “large number of civil cases” and owes over $50,000 in money judgments. Berg asked that Croswell serve jail time.
“This is needed to send a clear message to the public that this type of crime is unacceptable,” said Berg.
Croswell’s attorney, Scott McCarthy, said that Croswell’s inexperience with running his own business is partly to blame.
In a letter to the judge, Croswell wrote, “I started to fall behind on jobs and I got way in over my head.”
In court, Croswell said he was sorry for his actions.
“I apologize for what I did, what I caused harm to the Tillung family and other victims,” said Croswell.
Judge David Reddy sentenced Croswell to five years of probation and 12 months conditional jail time. Croswell must serve at least six months in jail before becoming eligible for work release and electronic monitoring.
“I think his tape measurer was his weapon in this case,” said Reddy.
Croswell must also pay $407,000 in restitution, but has the right to challenge that amount.
Neither Croswell nor his attorney spoke with Contact 6 upon leaving court.
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Another unhappy former customer, Erick Kissner, attended the hearing. In 2022, Kissner told Contact 6 he’d hired Croswell to put a metal roof on his Franksville barn. Within weeks, Kissner said fascia and gutters were falling off. A Racine County judge has ordered Croswell pay Kissner about $4,200.
“Finally you feel like the dog got his day,” said Kissner. “Now, we can finally move on.”
Tillung spoke in court prior to Croswell’s sentencing. Outside the courtroom, he told Contact 6 he was pleased with the outcome.
“It’s helping protect everyone else from him potentially do it again,” said Tillung. “Hopefully, he learns a lesson by having to spend some time in jail.”
Croswell must report to the jail by Friday, March 8.
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