A contractor long accused of taking advantage of unwitting seniors and retirees in Palm Beach County is now a fugitive from justice.

Three months after he pleaded guilty to two counts of filing fraudulent liens against a deceased woman’s South Florida home, Andre Baptiste was due to surrender in Palm Beach County Circuit Court and begin serving his prison sentence. He never showed up.

Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer issued a bench warrant for Baptiste’s arrest May 16, the day the 75-year-old was supposed to return to court. In February, the judge had sentenced Baptiste to five years in prison but said he would reduce the term to 18 months if Baptiste paid $7,120 restitution in full the to victim’s family and returned to court without incurring any new law violations.

Baptiste repaid the victim’s family but never returned to court. County property records show that Baptiste, a native of Trinidad, sold his Sherbrooke Estates home near Florida’s Turnpike and Lantana Road in April for $1.2 million.

An attempt to reach Baptiste’s most recent attorney was not immediately successful.

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Contractor falsely claimed to be licensed roofer, placed liens on homes

In recent years, Baptiste has been accused of falsely claiming to be a roofing contractor. More than a dozen complaints have been filed against Baptiste with county and state licensing regulators.

Investigators said Baptiste used the licenses of a dead roofing contractor, one held by his ex-wife and another held by a Delray Beach-area roofer while persuading homeowners to hire his company, B and B Roofing and General Contracting. Authorities also alleged Baptiste demanded extra money from clients and placed liens on the homes of those who did not pay.

He is prohibited from getting a contractor’s license because of a 1995 arrest in Broward County on charges of insurance fraud and grand theft.

According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Baptiste placed two liens on the Boca Raton-area home of a woman who hired him prior to her death in March 2021. A family member handling the woman’s estate filed a criminal complaint in January 2022, telling investigators that the liens were fraudulent.

Investigators say Baptiste submitted a claim of lien of $4,000 in October 2021 despite receiving a $4,150 payment from the woman’s estate for a completed repair. When asked about the lien, Baptiste told investigators he was owed more money and complained that the family took too long to pay, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

One of the woman’s daughters told investigators that Baptiste provided her mother with an estimate of $46,000 to replace the entire roof. She said Baptiste attempted to submit a claim to her mother’s insurance company in December 2019, but the claim was repeatedly denied because damage from a 2017 hurricane was listed as the cause.

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Roofer told investigators he considered estimate to be a ‘contract’

The woman said she spoke to Baptiste about providing a new estimate and told him she would also be seeking estimates from other contractors. Investigators say Baptiste provided a new estimate of $29,500. However, he told deputies he does not provide written estimates and described paperwork for the roof work as a “contract.”

An attempt to reach a relative of the deceased woman was not immediately successful.

In a separate case, Baptiste pleaded guilty to two counts of using someone else’s license, was fined $2,000 and was ordered to repay two women who were targeted in his scheme.

State and county regulators fined Baptiste $17,500 for working without a license. His ex-wife and the licensed Delray Beach roofer both told investigators they did not authorize Baptiste to use their certifications.

Carlos Noguera, a retired Miami-Dade police officer who alleged that Baptiste scammed him out of money for repairs to his Boynton Beach-area home, wrote a letter in February urging Susakauer to rescind Baptiste’s plea deal.

Noguera wrote that Baptiste has “amassed a fortune in Palm Beach County by scamming seniors with fraudulent contracts using the license of others, including the license of a deceased contractor, insurance fraud, forgeries and uttering forged documents.”

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Roofer who scammed seniors flees Palm Beach County before prison term