Contractor charged after Raleigh woman gives life savings for bathroom remodel
A contractor allegedly got his mother to notarize a document without the homeowner being present. That's considered misconduct by the notary, and now both mother and son have been arrested for it.
Posted — UpdatedWhen WRAL's 5 On Your Side started digging into a botched bathroom remodel, we found problems with some of the contractor’s paperwork.
It turns out the contractor allegedly got his mother to notarize a document without the homeowner being present.
That’s considered misconduct by the notary and now both mother and son have been arrested for it.
A Raleigh woman hired Eric Wright, owner of The Wright Allure, to do nearly $44,000 worth of projects at her home, including a bathroom remodel. When there were problems with the project, the woman learned Wright wasn’t a licensed contractor and reached out to 5 On Your Side.
"If I knew I wouldn’t have paid him," she said. "I wouldn’t have given him my life savings to do this with my bathroom. I want a real licensed general contractor to work on this."
The woman had signed a document called an "Owner Exemption Affidavit."
The document is used when a property owner wants to work on their own property without having to have a general contractor’s license, explained Frank Wiesner, the former Director of the North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors,
Wiesner said the form is frequently abused by unlicensed contractors.
The woman thought she was signing an insurance form, and she did so after it had been notarized. For something to be properly notarized, it has to be signed in the presence of a notary.
When the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office looked into the Raleigh case, they charged the notary, Gloria Wright, with notary fraud.
Eric Wright was charged with aiding an abetting the notarization without appearing before a notary and failing to work after being paid after the woman said he didn’t finish her remodeling project.
The woman said investigators told her Gloria Wright is Eric Wright’s mother. Both have been released from custody and are due in court next month.
Gloria Wright is also an employee of the private contractor that operates the North Raleigh NC License Plate Agency.
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