Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- Robert Patrick Riley, a Morgan man, faces multiple fraud and theft charges.
- Riley is accused of accepting payments for pool projects without completing them or holding a valid license.
- A judge ordered Riley into custody after accusations of continued scams while he was out on bail.
OGDEN — A Morgan man accused in six cases of accepting money to build swimming pools but not completing the work has been taken into custody and accused of scamming a victim while out on bail.
Robert Patrick Riley, 49, faces a total of seven counts of communications fraud, four counts of theft by deception and theft, second-degree felonies, and contracting without a license, a class A misdemeanor, in Davis and Weber counties.
Two of those felonies stem from charges filed on Feb. 7 in 2nd District Court in Weber County. In that case, a man entered into a contract with Riley to have a pool built for more than $74,000. The man made four payments totaling nearly $67,000 to Riley's businesses, Colloseo LLC and Mammoth Outdoor, according to charging documents.
Riley originally said the project would be done by April of 2024 but did not even start until May 2024, court documents state.
"Rob began some of the work, much of which has to be redone. Rob never completed the project and provided excuses and promised that he would complete the work. To date, there is much work that still remains to be done," the charges state.
In their motion to have Riley taken into custody pending trial, prosecutors note that even though Riley had already been charged with similar crimes in April and May of 2024, he "continued accepting payments for (the victim's project) despite not having a contractor's license.
"Rob has continued to work under the current contract even after being charged for the other cases and after his contractor's license has expired. (Prosecutors have) been told by victims of the other cases that Rob has told the court he is not currently working as a contractor even though (prosecutors have) evidence he has actively worked on the current victim's project as recently as December," the motion states.
The victim made payments totaling more than $35,000 to Riley in August while Riley "actively tried to discourage (the victim) from going to the police or to talk to other victims … on Reddit who have had similar experiences," according to the motion.
A judge on Thursday ordered that Riley be taken into custody following his court hearing. He is scheduled to be back in court on March 26.
Riley was also charged on Feb. 10 for an alleged scam in 2022 in Layton. In that case, he itook about $226,000 in payments for work on a pool, pool house and bathroom and then abandoned the project, according to to charging documents.
"Much of the work that was completed was not to code and needed to be corrected. Further, at this time, (Riley) was only licensed to do landscape and recreation projects. (He) was not licensed to do bathroom remodeling work and (he) failed to obtain a building permit to do the bathroom remodeling work," the charges state.
