Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 31, 1995                   TAG: 9505310074
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BUILDER PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSTRUCTION FRAUD

John Cusack, 40, of Rocky Mount faces up to 10 years in prison. Sentencing has not been scheduled.

Cusack received more than $30,000 in advance for remodeling jobs he never completed. He was convicted earlier of operating as a contractor without a license, a misdemeanor.

The builder also used other contractors' license numbers on forms and wrote letters to customers on stationery belonging to contractors with whom he wasn't employed, according to prosecutor Randy Krantz.

Under Virginia law, if a homeowner gives a remodeler written notice, the remodeler has 15 days to complete the project or refund the homeowner's money. Krantz said the homeowners gave written notice, and Cusack put them off longer than 15 days.