Attorney General wants Locksmith charged with Contempt of Court

Sep 2, 2011 by admin

BALTIMORE – ABC2 has been working for you for a long time on this one. For as long as you keep telling us you think he is ripping you off, we will keep telling you this story.  But now there may be some good news for victims of a locksmith under fire. ABC2 News Investigator Joce Sterman says we may have finally reached the end of the line.

He’s been caught on-camera, overcharging customers. He’s been hit with not one, but two court orders, telling him to put his business practices on lock down. And at this point, he’s waiting for final judgment a legal case that could force him to pay thousands of dollars in restitution. But it seems Pasadena locksmith Joe Horton has continued to snub his nose at the state, until now. Assistant Attorney General Philip Zipperman says, “Because this time he’s facing jail time.”

SPECIAL REPORT | Locksmith lockdown

And our investigation may be part of what sends him there. Horton is the owner and sole employee of Around the Clock Locksmith. ABC2 News has covered his court battles with the Maryland Attorney general for months. We’ve exposed how he won’t give estimates or quotes customers one price to pop their lock, then raises the cost, sometimes by thousands of dollars. We confronted him face to face when he tried to do it to us, but even that didn’t stop him.

81-year-old Rosemarie Green of Brooklyn Park is one of nine people who’ve complained to the AG about Horton since our last story aired in November. She tells us she was overcharged by Horton after getting locked out of her car in January. She says, “I looked at my bill and thought, ‘Oh my God, $1,995’. I thought he must have misplaced the decimal point.”

Green claims Horton never gave her an estimate to unlock her car. She says he just showed up, did the work and then handed her a nearly $2,000 bill. Green explains, “It took him longer to write the bill than it did to pop the lock and at no time did he say anything to me.”

Instead, when Horton was done, Green says he simply charged her card, handed her a stack of papers and told her to sign, sign, sign. And like more than 50 other Marylanders who’ve complained to the Attorney General, she says she had no idea how much the work would really cost until she saw the jaw dropping bottom line. Green tells ABC2, “He should be stripped of everything he’s got and he should pay back all the money he’s charged these people. It’s ridiculous something like this can go on in this day and age.”

Now Horton may finally have to refund everyone he’s overcharged. If not, he could end up behind bars. That’s because the AG’s office wants the court to hold him in contempt. Zipperman says, “He’s still not giving people estimates. He’s still overcharging customers. He’s still holding their personal goods hostage.”

In April, the Attorney General’s office got a cease and desist order and took Horton to court for overcharging customers and failing to give them accurate estimates. With that hearing in progress, Horton continued, so in August, attorneys with the AG’s office got another order telling him to stop. But in October, we caught him on tape trying to charge us nearly $900 to free our keys after quoting us a $150 fee.

So after seeing our sting and hearing from even more victims, the AG’s office decided to take an even stronger step. Zipperman says, “If the court finds this order has been violated, finds him to be in contempt, then we’ve asked the court to order him to return the money he’s overcharged consumers and if he’s able to pay that money and doesn’t, we want him to go to jail.”

Jail is exactly where Rosemarie Green and her daughter want to see Joe Horton. They want to make sure he has plenty of time to think about the pain he’s caused. Green says, “For two weeks he sucked the life right out of me. I felt terrible.” And Green’s daughter, Susan Ludwig, says nothing will make them feel better than finally seeing justice against Joe. She explains, “We are definitely going to fight him until we get some sort of resolution. If it takes years, it takes years, but we’re not going to give up.”

The civil contempt case isn’t the only thing that might send Joe Horton to jail. Since our story aired in November, he’s also been criminally charged with theft, fraud and credit card crimes in Anne Arundel County. A trial date is set for March ninth. We tried to contact Joe Horton for comment, but couldn’t reach him. His attorney tells us he will plead not guilty and looks forward to fighting all these charges in court, not with the media.

If you feel you’ve been overcharged with Horton or his company, you should file a complaint with the Maryland Attorney General’s office.  You can contact their Consumer Protection Hotline at (410) 528-8662.
Read more: http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/anne_arundel_county_/attorney-general-wants-locksmith-charged-with-contempt-of-court-order#ixzz1WmwrK9rq