A North Texas contractor has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after prosecutors said he took more than $300,000 from customers and then hid behind aliases and silence when projects stalled.<\/p>\n
Here’s what to know<\/p>\n
In Tarrant County, Jeremy Zeno pleaded guilty in a theft case involving more than $300,000, Fox 4<\/a> reported. Police said he presented himself as a trustworthy contractor, accepted customer checks, and then cashed them. Prosecutors said they have not recovered the stolen funds.<\/p>\n A 2024 complaint from customer Terry Stevenson to the Benbrook Police Department helped launch the case. Stevenson said he paid the contractor $40,000 for a barn\/condominium renovation, but the contractor did little work before he stopped responding.<\/p>\n “He kept saying the materials are coming. The materials are coming. The materials never came,” Stevenson said.<\/p>\n Other victims described a similar experience. Lee Robinson of Arlington said he was out $35,000 after a construction job in Alvarado and later posted a warning on Facebook that drew in others with mirrored accounts. Selvin Rosa of Universal Foundation Experts in Dallas said he did foundation work for a home in Hood County and never got paid. A fourth victim from the Royse City\/Rockwall area said the contractor also lost a $180,000 phone payment.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n The contractor reportedly kept operating while on deferred adjudication in Hood County for a similar offense and while out on bond in Tarrant County.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said the losses affected both homeowners and subcontractors across multiple communities.<\/p>\n Stevenson flew in from Iowa to testify and wore a shirt that read, “Zeno Construction Officially Closed.” The case ended with a guilty plea and a 30-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n Rosa said, “You can’t do this to your clients. You are destroying homes, their investments, and their life. He deserves the 30 years because it is not his first rodeo.”<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n These stories cover dumping schemes, wetlands damage, and other construction-related violations that led to arrests, fines, or prison time.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Texas, two men faced felony charges after repeatedly destroying a local pond<\/a> with oil field wastewater.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Texas, authorities arrested a waste-removal company owner accused of dumping over 1000 pounds<\/a> of garbage.<\/p>\n \u2022 In New York, a contractor was hit with a $121,000 restoration bill<\/a> after damaging protected wetlands.<\/p>\n \u2022 A former Long Island town official was sentenced to prison for his role in<\/a> an illegal dumping scheme.<\/p>\n \u2022 A homeowner said hired contractors left a toxic mess<\/a> outside the home and sparked cleanup questions.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A North Texas contractor has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after prosecutors said he took more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-467570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}