Home Repair Fraud Defendant Deserves Much Lower Bail: Tomczak

Joliet IL

24 February, 2022

1:18 PM

Description

SHOREWOOD, IL — The owner of Express Cabinetry and Top Notch Counters now faces 20 felonies and a bail of $2.25 million following allegations of home-repair fraud from separate investigations at the Will County Sheriff's Office and Shorewood's Police Department. Two days after being charged with 15 felony crimes by the Will County Sheriff's Office, William "Bill" Vranicar, 59, was charged with five more felonies from Shorewood. Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins set bail at $1,250,000 in the Shorewood case for the New Lenox man. In the Will County Sheriff's case, DeWilkins set bail at $1 million. That's higher than the bail set in the August 2018 Joliet homicide of Becky Kazecki, whose husband, Michael Kazecki, has been charged with first-degree murder. His bail was set at $2 million, and he posted bail three weeks later. Last October, Joliet first-degree murder defendant Abraham Bibian II was released from the jail after posting 10 percent of his $1 million in connection with last April's shooting death of Joliet teenager Jwaun Jones. Vranicar has hired The Tomczak Law Group, and attorney Jeff Tomczak has filed a motion seeking a bond reduction for his new client. The hearing will take place Friday morning in Courtroom 405. Vranicar lives with his wife in the 1000 block of New Lenox's James Pass where he has lived for about 20 years, according to Tomczak's motion. Vranicar "is a loving father and stepfather of four children and grandfather of six grandkids," Tomczak informed the judge. "Defendant is willing to be put on electric home monitoring for the duration of his current pending cases in Will County. The amount of bail previously set is far beyond the financial means of the defendant and or his family," Tomczak declared. In the Shorewood Police Department's criminal complaint submitted by Detective Kevin Frazier, Vranicar is charged with theft by deception, financial institution fraud, money laundering and two counts of home repair fraud. On April 21, 2019, Vranicar knowingly entered into a written contract for $23,7000 to repair a couple's home in the 1200 block of Ranchwood Drive "and in doing so knowingly employed deception to solicit (the victims) to enter into said contract, in that the defendant represented that he would obtain adequate business liability insurance to cover the job and any injuries to subcontractors and employees, proof of which the defendant failed to tender," the Shorewood detective stated. The other Shorewood home repair fraud charge states that Vranicar promised he "would renovate a bathroom, which the defendant did not intend to perform, in that he failed to comply with municipal, county, state or federal regulations or codes relating to the performance of home repair, in that he failed to provide proof of valid liability insurance and a contractor's bond to the Village of Shorewood for said bathroom renovation." The Will County Sheriff's Office complaint makes mention of a different company run by Vranicar, Top Notch Counters, located at 9500 West Monee-Manhattan Road in Frankfort. According to prosecutors, the victims from the sheriff's investigation live in the 7800 Braelock Court of Orland Park, the 3100 block of Jo Ann Drive, Joliet and the 3100 block of Lawrence Crescent in Flossmoor. In the Joliet case, Vranicar entered into a written contract in October 2019 for $38,500 and "represented that he would renovate the kitchen of the residence, and did induce (the victim) to make a payment towards the contracted work in the amount of $12,000 ... and the defendant failed to complete the agreed work," court records show. The sheriff's investigation also accuses Vranicar of committing loan fraud.