You said it was okay for him to use your credit card.
Absolutely untrue.
She is saying you stole from her.
But I didn't.
You're not gonna listen, are you?
-No, I'm not gonna listen to you repeat-- -What I'm trying to say is--
No, no. Stop. Stop it!
You messed with the wrong senior.
[announcer] Today on Tribunal Justice.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] This case was filed in Santa Ana, California.
Your Honor, this is case number 1068 on the calendar
in the matter of Feuers versus Presti.
Parties have been sworn in. You may be seated.
-Thank you, Byrd. -[Byrd] You're welcome, Judge.
[Patricia] Ms. Feuers.
And ma'am, your name is Joelda Tomlinson.
-Is that correct? -Yes.
And just so the record is clear, you are an aide to Ms. Feuers, correct?
Yes.
Okay, Ms. Feuers, defendant is a contractor that you hired.
He was actually friends of Ms. Tomlinson, your assistant.
And you say that because of the friendship he had with her,
he was always telling you, "If you need anything fixed, I'll fix it for free."
And so you did go to him one day in April and you asked if he could fix a leak
inside your wall.
He agreed to do that.
He went to you at first for a check, $964.
And then he said to you, "I need more money for some materials."
At that point, you gave him your credit card.
After he fixed the leak, you got a credit card bill
and you realized that here were charges amounting to more than $1,400.
For instance, gas for his car, a backpack, a Wi-Fi extender.
You say he even charged you $3,900
for a tool that he never used.
You called the credit card company challenging that bill
and they returned the money to you.
You say that on top of all of this, you discovered that he was not licensed.
So you want return of your check for $964
and the other $1,438 that he charged on your credit card.
The total of your lawsuit is $2,384.
Mr. Presti, you say that first you installed security cameras
and you did that for free.
And then they both came to you basically
and said they had a leak that they wanted fixed.
You said that everything was gonna cost about $3,000.
You asked her for 945 or so to pay your workers.
You came across a tool that would fix the leak.
You said, "Give me $3,900 and I will give you
a lifetime of free plumbing."
Basically.
[Patricia] You say that she agreed, she gave you her credit card
because she wanted to get frequent flyer mileage.
And the other purchases you say were for her.
Amen.
[Patricia] You say weeks later she came to you
and said that you overcharged her credit card
and she called the police on you.
You owe her nothing.
Out of curiosity, were you ever arrested for anything?
-Oh, no. -[Patricia] Okay.
Now, you purchase
a $3,900 tool
that you tried to charge this woman for
with a promise that, one, it would fix her leak,
but two, that you would give her
a lifetime of free plumbing.
She is a senior.
How much plumbing do you think she's gonna need done, sir?
Well, let me see if I can clarify this.
I have been doing work in this community for five years.
-Mm-hmm. -[Jim] Okay?
I met Joelda while she was walking the dog.
-We became friends. -[Patricia] Mm-hmm.
She asked for the cameras. I did the cameras.
-[Patricia] Mm-hmm. -She said, "Jim, how much is it?"
And I said, "Honey, no charge. Don't worry about it."
That was Ms. Feuers. I didn't charge her anything.
When the plumbing issue came, Joelda had called me and said,
"Jim, can you come over and take a look at our plumbing?"
And I said, "Okay."
So I went over and she said, "I hear water running through the upstairs."
So I called the Department of Water and Power, had them come out.
They said, "Oh, this is a leak detection case.
You're gonna have to hire a plumber to do that and have the leak detection."
So I said, "Okay, shut off the water for two weeks."
-Pause. Pause. -I went--
[Patricia] Ms. Feuers, I wanna know,
were you there for that conversation that he just testified to?
The conversation about needing a plumber? No. No.
He said that he was a plumber. He could fix the leak.
-Did he fix the plumbing? -[Stelle] Yes.
Okay, and did you pay him $964
in this check to fix the plumbing?
[Stelle] Well, so he said.
He never gave me any receipts or described to me
-what that money was for. -But did you pay this to him?
-This is the money you gave him? -Yes.
How long was he there for trying to fix the plumbing?
I would say, uh, a half of two, of each of two days.
-[Patricia] Okay. -And he fixed it.
Now, with regard to the other items charged on the credit card,
I looked through those items very carefully, sir,
and I'm trying to figure out why it was that you needed to charge
some of the things that you did.
For instance, what does she need with a knapsack?
I didn't buy a knapsack.
[Patricia] Yeah, you did.
It also says that you bought gas for your car.
Why would she need to pay for the gas to your car?
I don't know what you look surprised about.
At $7 a gallon, how am I gonna pay?
That bill would've been 10,000 if I would've done it.
I told her originally...
She said, "Can I pay by credit card?"
I said, "I don't have my credit card reader,
so, no, I don't take credit cards.
And how are you gonna pay for the material on a credit card?"
-She said, "I'll give you my credit card." -Yeah. Nobody's disputing that.
I said, "Oh, no, no. Excuse me, ma'am, I refuse to take a credit card."
But you took it and you charged things on it. Yes or no?
[Jim] By her, um--
What did she need a knapsack for?
'Cause you charged a knapsack.
[stammers] I did not buy a knapsack.
-And I told her-- -You did.
"If it was on there, whatever was different than what I purchased,
let me know, I will bring it over to you and pay for it."
Okay. A toolkit.
Why did she need a toolkit?
-[Jim] I don't know. -Because you know what you sound like?
-What is a toolkit? -You sound like a scammer to me.
-[Jim] Oh! -You do.
-[Jim] Well, excuse me. -You do.
She asked me for multiple things and all those,
uh, stuff on the receipt were for different jobs she asked.
You actually, as if I'm not mistaken,
you went to the store on April 29th four times.
-Yes. -You charged gas.
You bought a soldering iron.
-You bought all sorts of things that-- -She told me to.
I said, "This is what we need." She said, "Okay."
-The three times-- -[Patricia] Excuse me.
Didn't you say you've been doing this job for five years?
-Yes, but-- -Don't you have any tools?
You have no tools?
Just a man that walks around and then when you get a job,
and then you have the person you work with buy all the tools for the job?
-You didn't have a soldering iron? -No.
[Patricia] You didn't have a backpack? You didn't have gas for your car?
Let's see, a screwdriver set. You don't have a screwdriver set?
[Jim] No, no, no. Hold on. That was a whole different job.
That was on the electrical half.
I'm supposed to be plumbing, not electrical.
So when she said, "Can you please fix this?"
I said, "I think you have an electrical issue."
I think I got this perfectly clear.
I think you are just one fast talker and scammer. Judge Levy.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
I said, "Well, which wall am I gonna open?"
[Adam] Well, hold on.
You asked the plaintiff, "Where should I start looking for this leak?"
No, no, I told her without the leak detection done, I don't know.
And you do plumbing. That's what you said.
[theme music playing]
[announcer] Stelle Feuers is suing her former friend and contractor,
Jim Presti, for a refund of services and unauthorized credit card charges.
Jim claims everything he purchased was necessary
and she approved the charges.
Mr. Presti, I'm looking at your answer to the lawsuit.
Yes.
And it says the first thing you did was install security cameras.
-[Jim] Yes. -What kind of security cameras?
Uh, outside, 'cause they were having people
coming over the gate or animals or whatever.
So they asked me if I could put a security camera
to watch what's coming on.
-[Adam] I get it. -I did that.
And did you install them in some way, shape, or form?
-[Jim] Yes. -All right.
You used a screwdriver for that, didn't you?
-[Jim] Screw gun. -Screw gun.
-[Jim] Mm-hmm. -And that's because you had that as part
of your tool package when you do work
for the last five years around the community.
-Right. -[Adam] And you charged her
for a screwdriver set, as was indicated by Judge DiMango.
That was a totally different job. Not the plumbing.
-No, that's 'cause you had it. -[Jim] This was four months later.
You had it. That was the point.
The security camera job was the first job you had.
-Yes. -And you had equipment to mount them.
-[Jim] Yes. -You didn't charge her for a screwdriver--
-[Jim] No. -'Cause you had it.
-Absolutely not. -[Adam] Right.
It was later on that you went to Home Depot and bought a screwdriver set.
And then a few weeks later, you were at the plaintiff's home.
You examined a leak.
You told the plaintiff that it would cost around $3,000 to repair the leak.
-[Jim] Yes. -Did you ever submit that in writing?
-No. -[Adam] No estimate?
-No. -[Adam] No scope of work order?
-Nope. -Just $3,000?
Well, no. I explained to her what had to be done.
We had to cut the wall open, find out where it was,
'cause no plumber could come in,
'cause she didn't wanna pay.
No, no, no, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on.
-When you say that you examined-- -What the hell's going on here?
When you said, "After my examination..."
I'm just trying to figure out what, what it was that you wrote.
Okay. After my examination...
What did your examination entail?
Nobody knew where the water was coming from.
-Yeah. So what did you do? -Huh?
What did you do to determine where the water was coming from?
I took her, um, request.
"Can we just open a wall and see where this water's coming from?"
And I said, "Well, which wall am I gonna open?"
[Adam] Well, hold on you, you asked the plaintiff,
"Where should I start examining and looking for this leak?"
No, no, I told her without the leak detection gun,
I don't know.
And you do plumbing.
-That's what you said. -[Jim] Yeah.
You're not an electrician, you're a plumber.
-Right. -Hold on, with all the work that you did
for the last five years doing plumbing work in the community,
you didn't have a tool that you were able to go to a wall,
put the tool up and determine whether or not there was any water
behind that sheet rock wall?
-Nope. -You didn't have that?
-Nope. -Okay.
Uh, you told her that you needed to pay your workers,
so she wrote you a check for $945.
-Absolutely. -[Adam] All right.
So far, is that what he said?
[Stelle] No.
[Adam] No, of course not.
And you know why that's not true?
Because in the check that she wrote you, she wrote down
"materials, $964, Jim Presti."
That's you. Right?
That is.
Explain to me why she wrote "materials" if you said it was for your workers.
-I don't know. -[Adam] Okay.
-I didn't write the check. -I get it.
But it clearly had nothing to do with what you told her.
-Well, she was writing the check. -[Adam] I know, I get that.
How many workers did you have working at her house?
Two different ones. Two different times.
Is that true, he had two different people working at your house?
-Yes. -[Adam] Very good.
-An assistant. His assistant. -Yes.
[Adam] Okay, and what's the name of your business, Mr. Presti?
Mobile Authority Services.
And you knew when you came in today that the plaintiff in her complaint says
that "a few weeks later, I researched Jim and discovered that the license number
listed on his website was expired."
You know that that's one of the complaints she made to the police.
I never, this is the first time I'm hearing it.
The cop never asked me ever about anything about licensing.
What is your plumbing license number?
I don't have a license.
[Adam] What is your electrical license number?
I am not an electrician.
[Adam] I have nothing further.
Do you understand why you're being sued?
[Jim] No.
[laughs]
I have no clue.
I'm gonna explain because you're getting very excited about some things...
-It's an Italian thing. -...that aren't relevant.
I know some Italians, they know how to hold it together.
-Rub us wrong, we get a little edgy. -You gotta hold it together.
Because you're just here, like, rambling.
And when asked about things that are material,
you're like, "I didn't do that."
And I'm looking at evidence that shows you did do that.
So I am going to explain why she's suing you.
Okay, great.
The gist of it is that she is saying you stole from her.
-[Jim] But I didn't. -You took her credit card
and you charged things that she did not give you permission to charge.
-Absolutely not. -[Tanya] So before you say another word,
Judge DiMango started to talk about gas.
-[Jim] Mm-hmm. -And you said, "Of course,
I used her credit card for gas.
-Gas is $7 a gallon." -Yes.
It doesn't matter how much gas costs,
if the person who hired you did not give you permission
to use a credit card for gas.
-And her case-- -No, she did. No, she did.
-So can you prove that? -Yes.
She gave me originally one credit card and I told her I do not wanna accept it.
-[Tanya] I heard that story. -You're not gonna listen, are you?
-No, I'm not gonna listen to you repeat-- -[Jim] What I'm trying to say is--
No, no, stop. Stop it!
What is very serious about this case is that this plaintiff
has accused you of elder abuse.
She has accused you of stealing from her.
The fact that she gave you a credit card, sir, does not mean you had carte blanche.
She's not your Santa Claus.
There's no text message in here.
There are messages of you saying she's mean, she doesn't appreciate you.
Not one message where she says, "You can use my credit card to buy gas."
So give me that evidence and stop your rambling.
-Do you have that evidence? -Yes.
-Where is it? -[Jim] She told me
when I got there, I said, "At gas at $7 a gallon,
this is gonna get very expensive coming back and forth and back."
When did she authorize you to use the credit card for gas?
[Jim] Day one.
I did not give him permission for many of the things he said.
What about the cleaning supplies I see on the receipt?
Lysol, Frog Tape, trash bags?
I did not.
[Tanya] So, Mr. Presti,
I would like to direct your attention to plaintiff's evidence.
And it's page six of her evidence. She submitted a number of receipts.
Mm-hmm.
Mold spray, pro spray bottle,
Air Wick, lavender starter kit, hand and nail brush.
-But you-- -Oh, the brush.
The brush was for scrubbing the garage floor.
Did you ever give her a list that said,
"Here are the things I bought, here's the invoice"?
No, because all of the times that I purchased these items,
she called me and said, "Jim, are you going to Home Depot?"
I said, "Yes, I'm on my way there." "Can you get me this?"
I said, "I'm only going to get cleaning supplies."
Give me an example of something that she asked you to buy
that was not a part of the scope of work.
[announcer] Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
Your goal here was to take advantage of her, to scam her.
-And we are going to prevent that. -I didn't do that.
-I did not set out to do that. -Oh, sir, I'm gonna tell you right now,
shut your mouth.
Get a little self-control.
[theme music playing]
[Tanya] Give me an example of something that she asked you to buy
that was not a part of the scope of work.
Okay, so she called me and told me that she had a lamp
that was not working.
I took the lamp to my shop, I took it apart, I fixed it.
And I said, "I think it might be the outlet."
So I told her, "If you want, I can get a tester,
they sell 'em at Home Depot,
and I can test it and then move forward with that."
She said, "Okay."
-But you are the professional here. -[Jim] Right.
You are the one who's being hired to come into the home and do the work.
-Which I did. -But you never gave her an estimate.
-[Jim] No. -You never gave her a list that said,
"Here's what I'm buying, here's what you're paying,
here's where your money's going."
-No. -[Tanya] You never did that?
-No, because I-- -Okay. I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.
-[Jim] I did not know. -Thank you.
Your Honor, may I clarify a few statements because they're quite untrue?
Sure, go on.
First of all, when he says they didn't know where the leak was,
we had found the leak in a wall in the downstairs bathroom.
And it appeared as though it would have to take behind the sink,
pull out the sink and ruin it.
And I said, "Rather than go into the bathroom,
it backs up to the garage, take it through the garage wall."
-That's what he did. -Yes.
He fixed the leak. There's no question about that.
-And that $964 check went to that? -Yes. And he had one assistant.
He never, ever gave me a receipt or an explanation.
-Okay. -[Stelle] Then he said he needed more.
But he has never explained where the 947 went.
One time he said, "Well, it's my assistant
and I pay him $30 an hour," which I don't think is so.
But even if he did, if he worked,
you know, six hours a day for two days,
it still would not come anywhere near the $900-odd figure.
And I have given you this latitude here to say this,
because I don't want him to create the impression that you might be
forgetful or not really cognizant of what's going on.
Thank you.
-[Patricia] And you are-- -I never made that gesture.
You're the one that's got the cognitive issues.
And let ask you something.
500 and some odd dollars in gasoline? Where are you coming from, Brooklyn?
[audience laughs]
[Patricia] I don't have any other questions.
At this point, we're gonna retire to deliberate.
Thank you, all.
Court now stands in recess. Parties are excused.
[theme music playing]
This pompous, arrogant... you-know-what
owes her $2,384.
He deceived her, he took money from her under false representations
as to what he was using it for, what he needed it for.
He made purchases to basically create his own business.
He was just looking to scam her every which way he possibly could,
buying 500 and some odd dollars' worth of gas,
buying backpacks, everything on there that he kept.
What kind of man comes to your home to fix and do work
and doesn't even have a screwdriver?
There's no way he raised any defense that was viable.
She gets back all the money, in my mind.
-He stole. He stole from her. -[Tanya] Mm-hmm.
I can't understand why the police wouldn't have charged him.
What, it's too much work?
Do they not care that this woman is in a class of people
that is targeted by scammers like this clown?
He's not even licensed. They don't even have to do that much.
All they gotta do is see that he offered to do work,
he took money to do work, and he's not licensed.
And you write a summons for him.
So at least there's a record so the next person doesn't do it.
[Patricia] And by the way, that's why he's claiming materials.
-That's exactly right. -Because he can't charge for plumbing
or any work that he does 'cause he's unlicensed.
But he can go out and buy materials on her credit card.
I mean, for the police not to recognize what happened here, to me, is baffling.
He does free work in the beginning, installing two cameras.
It's four screws per camera,
but he does it for nothing because it's not that job that he wants,
he wants the next job.
That's what it was. It's just the hook that he uses.
What he wants is the credit card so he can then go
fill up his tank with gas and buy a backpack
and then buy some things for his business.
I mean, she put it best in her complaint,
"He messed with the wrong senior."
He thought that he was gonna play this woman because she was older,
and she kept good records.
-So let's give her her money. -You got it, unanimous.
-Full amount. -I agree.
[theme music playing]
Court is back in session.
Parties are reminded you're still under oath.
-Thank you, Byrd. -Mm-hmm.
Mr. Presti, you came in here to defend a case with arrogance...
-No, I didn't. -...and obnoxiousness.
-And I say-- -You won't let me finish.
I don't need to say further. Thank you.
Bottom line here is, you messed with the wrong senior.
She's sharp. She knows exactly what's going on.
-And you took advantage of her. -No, I did not.
She told me to buy it.
[Patricia] I would like you to stop talking.
I think you've already demonstrated sufficiently
your arrogant, obnoxious behavior, so please stop.
This isn't arrogant, it's the truth.
[Patricia] Please stop.
Your goal here was to take advantage of her, to scam her.
-And we are going prevent that. -I didn't do that.
I did not set out to do that.
Oh, sir, I'm gonna tell you right now, shut your mouth.
Get a little self-control.
You charged things on her credit card
that she had no need for, no use for,
practically making her build a business for you,
for which you had none.
You don't have a license, you don't have a business.
All you have is what you think is some suave moves
and an arrogant behavior that you think is gonna win you
I don't know what.
Didn't think I was winning.
Well, you finally caught on to something.
Ma'am, you have proved your case.
You have demonstrated to us by a preponderance of the evidence
that the defendant took advantage of the use of your credit card.
He made unauthorized charges.
He didn't even give you any of the things
that even if we were to take him at his word he bought for you,
-you don't have any of those things. -I offered.
-Several times. -[Patricia] And the bottom line here is,
he has actually, because of that, stolen from you.
-No, I did not. -[Patricia] If you feel necessary,
you can again call and ask that perhaps the police reconsider their position.
But the bottom line here is, you have prevailed in this forum
to the full tune of the amount you've asked for, which is $2,384.
You, Ms. Tomlinson, need to choose your friends a little bit better.
You cannot entrust people with her home, her things.
Ms. Feuers, verdict in your favor unanimously for the full amount.
Get him outta here.
This case is concluded. Parties are excused. You may step out.
I told her in the beginning, "If you're not happy,
I will bring all your products back to you and we go our own way."
I think practically everything he said was a lie.
My Lord and Savior says you can go to hell for lying.
Just like stealing.
When I got the bill, I was totally shocked.
For all the work that I was doing.
I told him all the things that I would do,
and that he should not underestimate me.
She wanted to do more chatting than listening.
But he went ahead and did it anyway.
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[theme music playing]