VERO BEACH — The owner of a pool company, whose victims were from Palm Beach County and other areas, was convicted of numerous felony charges related to operating a multimillion-dollar pool contracting scheme following a five-week trial, according to Indian River County court officials.
A jury seated in April found that Amore’ Pools owner Chrystal Washburn, 42, concocted a scheme to defraud homeowners by taking large deposits to build in-ground residential swimming pools, but never completed the projects, court records show.
Victims of the scheme were from Palm Beach, Brevard and Okeechobee counties and the Treasure Coast.
Washburn, who lives in Vero Beach, was convicted on May 24 of seven counts of identity fraud, two counts of money laundering, insurance fraud, contracting without a license, false statement of compliance and organized scheme to defraud, records show.
Her sentencing is scheduled for June 25.
Reached after her court, Washburn’s lawyer Roger Azcona declined to comment.
Her husband, Bryan Washburn, 37, who identified himself as a company employee, was convicted by a jury in June 2022, and is serving 30 years in prison. He was found guilty of nine felony counts, including organized scheme to defraud, identity theft and money laundering of more than $100,000.
He also was ordered to pay $3.2 million in restitution to 121 customer victims, according to sentencing records.
He’s appealing his conviction and sentence, court filings show.
Both Washburns were prosecuted by the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.
Unlicensed contractors
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement accused the couple of systematically defrauding customers by fraudulently establishing the business, then agreeing to building backyard swimming pools but never completing them.
A criminal investigation launched in July 2021 after receiving numerous claims of fraud about a Treasure Coast pool contractor that would take “significant deposits” and then “either abandoning the victims or leaving them with an unfinished, poorly constructed shell in their back yards,” FDLE agents reported.
The company also forged documents and fraudulently obtained credentials to become registered pool and spa contractors in 2017, investigators concluded.
Upon receiving deposit checks from homeowners, the Washburns used a third-party check-cashing store to convert the checks into cash, in an attempt to conceal the illicit funds, law enforcement agents said when the couple was arrested in October 2021.
Chrystal Washburn’s trial lasted 22 days as jurors heard from 51 state witnesses and 24 defense witnesses, including Washburn, who testified May 22, records show.
Her trial was scheduled after a different judge last year rejected the terms of a plea deal struck between Washburn and statewide prosecutors, according to court filings.
An email seeking comment from the Office of Statewide Prosecution was not returned Friday.
After Brian Washburn’s conviction, Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a statement saying the Amore’ scheme approached nearly $3 million, often leaving dangerous debris piles and gaping holes in the victims’ backyards.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Amore’ Pool guilty in multimillion-dollar Florida pool building scheme
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