STUART — A week before embattled homebuilder Mark M. Montalto was to face a criminal trial in Martin County, he reached a plea deal with the state to resolve accusations that in 2022 he pocketed money to build a house in Stuart that was never completed, according to court records and a prosecutor.
Montalto, 61, owner of the now-shuttered Port St. Lucie Properties Inc., was charged Nov. 28, 2023 with second-degree grand theft and failure of a contractor to perform work related to a Stuart client, Robert Fletcher, who told investigators no work was done on a house he paid Montalto $77,773 to build in July 2022, court filings show.
Montalto was accused in part of “knowingly” taking Fletcher’s house building funds then “appropriated the money to his own use.”
Port St. Lucie Police took Montalto into custody after the Martin County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest. He was released the same day from the St. Lucie County Jail after he posted a $60,000 bail, according to arrest records.
Plea deal avoids trial
Instead of going on trial March 10, Montalto on Friday pleaded no contest to one count of failure of a contractor to perform work and in exchange, the state dropped the second-degree grand theft charge.
Martin County Circuit Judge William Roby ordered Montalto to serve one year of probation and pay $25,000 in restitution but he withheld a formal finding of guilt, meaning Montalto will not be a convicted felon.
Montalto was also ordered to have no contact with Fletcher, and he must provide proof to probation officials that he’s paid the $25,000 restitution.
He’s also not allowed to modify or terminate his probation term early.
Assistant State Attorney Kristen Chase on Friday said Montalto’s plea deal and the $25,000 restitution order “was in the best interest of the victim, getting some form of payment given the (civil) judgments against him.”
Montalto’s Jupiter attorney Jason Fagnano on Monday said his client is “glad to be able to put this matter behind him and focus on the future.”
Fagnano said he felt “strongly” that the criminal charges should not have been filed “as the allegations were clearly civil in nature.”
“There was never any evidence of criminal intent and civil court was the more appropriate venue for this matter to be litigated,” Fagnano said via email. “Our pending motion to dismiss was both viable and meritorious, however both Mr. Montalto and I believe resolving the matter with the agreement we reached with the state was in his best interest.”
It’s unclear if Montalto will face additional criminal charges, but in December, law enforcement officials in St. Lucie County said they were still investigating 28 homeowner complaints filed before and after his 2023 arrest in Martin County.
Former clients of Port St. Lucie Properties in complaints made to municipal, county and state officials have claimed Montalto either didn’t complete work on single-family homes he was paid to build, or that he didn’t pay subcontractors for supplies, or both.
After Montalto’s clients started filing similar complaints related to the quality or lack of work done on their homes – and finding hundreds of thousands of dollars in liens filed on their properties – the St. Lucie County Contractor Licensing Board on July 19, 2023 found Montalto guilty of a municipal code violation related to four homeowners for failing to pay creditors for material, work or services.
He was banned from obtaining new construction permits for a year, records show.
Clients suing Montalto in St. Lucie County Circuit Court have alleged they paid Montalto – in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars – but he failed to complete work and allowed dozens of liens to be placed on their properties by subcontractors.
Last year, judges approved six judgments totaling $755,712 against Montalto and Port St. Lucie Properties, court records show.
Most of the homeowner lawsuits allege breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment.
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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of “Uncertain Terms,” a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Mark Montalto with former PSL Properties avoids trial with plea deal
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