Courtesy: Sarasota County Jail
SARASOTA, Fla. - Arrest records show 47-year-old Todd Hoch, of Nokomis, was booked into the Sarasota County jail on Thursday afternoon.
Hoch, the owner of Sash and Sill, has been the center of a lengthy investigation by the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.
It started one year ago after dozens of customers contacted SCSO and said they had paid for windows and had not seen their products or heard back from the company.
Hoch sent a letter to some customers, saying the company had shut down and he was declaring bankruptcy.
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"I have exhausted my personal and business resources to overcome the situation. We are currently working on getting as many of your projects completed as possible," Hoch said in an email sent in July of 2024.
Arrest records show Hoch faces 27 counts of larceny/contractor contract failure and embezzlement/misappropriation of construction funds.
The arrest comes after the Punta Gorda Police Department first filed a felony charge for money received by a contractor after taking more than a $21,000 deposit by check four months before he announced he was going out of business.
Investigators also determined no permits were ever pulled. One month later, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office filed a similar charge for a client who paid by check a deposit of more than $12,000 for windows. Deputies determined no permits were ever pulled. Hoch was charged with a felony of contractor fail to refund excess of work.
Local perspective:
FOX 13 has spoken to several customers of Hoch who remain without their money and windows. Cody Davis is one of them.
"Just from a Google search. They had 300-400 close to 5-star reviews. It seemed like they were a reputable company," said Davis.
Davis said he put down more than $30,000 for the jobs, and he was told installation would happen last July, but he never saw the windows," he told FOX 13. After finding out Hoch was declaring bankruptcy, Davis soon learned his windows had never been ordered. "Really it just exposes that there is a flaw in the system and how many times will this happen until something changes and is prevented from happening again," said Davis.
What's next:
Hoch is being held without bond in the Sarasota County jail.
His arraignment is scheduled for September 26.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered from arrest records from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.