IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — A contractor, who is accused of leaving work unfinished that he was paid thousands of dollars for, has been charged following a recent Team 10 investigation.
Last Thursday, the San Diego County District Attorney filed a misdemeanor charge against Daniel Uriarte for contracting without a license.
The charge, which could result in six months of jail time, stems from work he did for Sonia Mayorga earlier this year in Imperial Beach, the DA confirmed.
Mayorga told Team 10 she hired Uriarte, who advertises himself as “the plumber man” on Craigslist to fix a leak outside her home and change cast iron piping underneath her property.
The Imperial Beach resident claims he only changed part of the cast iron piping and dug an unnecessary trench near where the leak was.
She showed ABC 10News an invoice Uriarte sent her for $8,908.90.
The Contractors State License Board told Team 10 that Uriarte is not allowed to charge more than $500 for work because he is unlicensed.
Uriarte pleaded not guilty to the charge filed against him at his arraignment last week. A judge ordered him not to work as a contractor while the case makes its way through the court.
When asked for comment, he told Team 10 investigator Austin Grabish in a text message “I will not speak with you at all. I will notify my lawyer.”
Uriarte was first charged in January with three misdemeanors for contracting without a license, improper home improvement contract procedures and failing to secure payment of compensation. The charges are unrelated to the work Mayorga paid for.
In 2019, Uriarte was the subject of a Team 10 investigation that led to his arrest. That year, court documents say he took thousands of dollars from families for rental deposits for an apartment he didn’t own leaving some victims homeless.
A judge sentenced Uriarte to four years behind bars minus time served for that crime after he pleaded guilty to four counts of grand theft.
Uriarte is due back in court on February 21st for a readiness hearing.
