Potential sentencing in Tubbs Fire scam leaves victims dissatisfied

Victims bilked by a family of former Central California contractors following the 2017 Tubbs Fire say they’re dissatisfied with the potential punishment the group could receive.

Salvador Chiaramonte and his wife Pamela, former owners of the shuttered Tulare-based Chiaramonte Construction & Plumbing, are scheduled to be sentenced July 14.

Salvador pleaded no contest on April 29 to 13 counts of diverting funds of at least $1,000 and one count of theft from an elder or dependent adult, according to court records. He could be sentenced to six years in prison, but half of that may be on post-release community supervision, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.

Chiaramonte’s wife, Pamela, pleaded no contest to one count of diversion of funds. According to court records, she could be sentenced to 60 days in a jail alternative program overseen by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Reached Wednesday, Lynette Kronick said the contractors never finished rebuilding her two-story home on Lavender Lane in the Mark West neighborhood. She said the couple’s potential sentences hardly make up for the hardships she and other victims endured following the Tubbs Fire.

“They’re getting off very easily for all this disruption they caused to our lives,” said Kronick, was cheated out of $23,000 before firing the Chiaramontes in April 2019.

DA spokesman Brian Staebell said a judge will decide the Chiaramontes’ actual sentencing next month.

In May 2019, Chiaramonte Construction became the first contractor to be accused by Tubbs Fire survivors of negligence and fraud during the massive rebuild in sections of Santa Rosa ravaged by the inferno, which destroyed 4,600 homes and caused the deaths of 22 people.

Residents who hired the company to rebuild their homes said they paid for work that was shoddily performed or not done at all, The Press Democrat first reported in 2019. The Chiaramontes’ former clients alleged the contractors missed deadlines, broke promises on construction start dates and let their rebuilds drag on and on, with no progress.

Kronick said Sal Chiaramonte presented flat costs for specific amounts of work before increasing the number of fees.

“This was a lot of bait and switching,” she said.

The Contractors State License Board launched an investigation into Chiaramonte Construction in 2019 and later suspended its license for failure to maintain workers’ compensation coverage.

Criminal charges were filed against the Chiaramontes and their daughter, Amy Perry, in July 2020. Perry also pleaded no contest to one count of diversion of fund and faces 60 days under a jail alternative program. She is also expected to be sentenced July 14.

Prosecutors say the defendants had signed roughly 40 construction contracts following the Tubbs Fire and a criminal complaint references 16 victims.

They were each charged with dozens of felonies. An April 22 preliminary hearing would have determined whether the case would have gone to trial, but it was canceled in the wake of the Chiaramontes and Perry’s pleas nearly two months ago.

The construction company was dissolved and in April 2020 the Chiaramontes’ filed for personal bankruptcy protection from creditors.

Their attorney, Ken Rosenfeld, said the couple is living with friends and family outside of Sonoma County. He maintains his clients were legitimate contractors and never planned to do anything illegal.

“They’re people that never intended to hurt or harm anybody,” Rosenfeld said. “These are people that got way in over their heads with something and it absorbed them.”

Rich Freeman, the Santa Rosa-based attorney representing victims in an ongoing civil suit, said his clients believe all the defendants are culpable and, given the level of their losses, no criminal sentence would be sufficient.

“In the minds of many of the people who signed up and gave (the Chiaramontes) money, no punishment is severe enough for what they did,” Freeman said. “They just took advantage of the most vulnerable, emotionally distraught people in our community. It was horrible.”

Freeman says he’s representing the owners of about 14 homes, which comes out to around 25 people. Not all of them are referenced in criminal proceedings.

Several of them are expected to attend next month’s sentencing and Freeman reiterated they are still healing from a major loss.

“Nothing would be enough even if they were fully repaid the money,” Freeman said.

Earlier this month, Rosenfeld’s public relations firm issued a news release announcing that Pamela Chiaramonte had been sentenced to community service.

He later said that was a misstatement and took responsibility for the error.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi