VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County businessman who was accused of taking advantage of homeowners after Hurricane Ian has been cleared of all charges.
Charles “Chuck” Ogden goes by the name “Granite Gangster” on social media.
He was facing up to 30 years in prison, but is walking away from his trial as a free man.
Ogden was initially charged with four counts of grand theft over $20,000, two counts of contracting without a license during an emergency, and an organized scheme to defraud over $50,000.
The jury found Ogden not guilty on all charges on Thursday after less than 3 hours of deliberation.
During the trial, prosecutors had argued Ogden preyed on desperate hurricane victims, convinced them he was a contractor, and left their homes in bad shape.
State investigators testified Ogden did business without a valid contractor’s license, and victims testified they paid tens of thousands of dollars to Ogden. Still, the work was so bad that they were left unsafe in their homes.
“This went so far beyond just poor work. It was untrustworthy work. You can’t trust yourself to live in the house and feel safe in that condition,” said Assistant State Attorney Kevin Sullivan during his closing argument Thursday.
Sullivan claimed Ogden had intended to defraud clients, stating Ogden provided “worthless contracts” for work orders he never intended to fill, but jurors seemed to agree with the defense’s depiction of events.
Ogden’s defense attorney, Aaron Delgado, claimed Ogden did not own the business and was not the mastermind of a scheme to rip off clients.
Delgado claimed Ogden was just an employee doing his best to satisfy customers.
“There’s a big difference between giving someone a product they’re not happy with and defrauding them,” said Delgado.
Delgado argued the matter should never have been brought to criminal court, stating that the business worked with hundreds of clients and that this was a case of a few unhappy customers that could have been resolved in a civil proceeding.
“There’s no doubt that people were unhappy about the work done. But in America we don’t put people on trial in a criminal court because they are unhappy about the quality or quantity of work,” said Delgado.
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