Lawrence County contractor to pay clients in paving fraud

HARRISBURG -- A Lawrence County paving contractor has been ordered to pay $18,000 in consumer restitution, civil penalties and investigation costs in a paving fraud.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher said Paul Roth, doing business as Pavemaster, 604 E. Lutton St., New Castle, was accused of failing to perform or complete driveway asphalt sealing services for people in Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Lawrence and Venango counties and in Ohio.
The victims paid Roth between $100 and $2,900 for work that was not done, the attorney general's office said. Nearly half of the people duped were senior citizens.
A lawsuit filed in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court claimed that Roth, in 1999 and 2000, advertised and sold driveway asphalt sealing services without fulfilling the contracts, violating the state's Consumer Protection Law.
Many people told prosecutors that Roth offered to do the work for a reduced rate if they paid in advance.
Roth was ordered to pay back 32 people, including those who also obtained civil judgments against him, pay $4,000 in civil penalties and $1,000 for the state's investigation costs by July 31.
He also will forfeit his right to advertise, offer for sale, perform or engage in any driveway asphalt services or other services related to driveway paving in Pennsylvania, the attorney general's office added.