Gaston County residents file police reports after driveway paving jobs go wrong

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - WBTV is investigating after more people contacted us about a driveway paving job gone wrong.

We reported on two Lincolnton residents who filed police reports after they say two men offered to repair their driveways for a discounted price, but left them in worse condition than they found them.

They were given a business card for Macks Construction, with a phone number for a man named Jimmy Mack.

WBTV learned that person, along with a second man named Pete Vincent-Carrol, are wanted for questioning in connection to an alleged felony theft in Augusta, Georgia.

The Richmond County report says an 85-year-old paid $500 to have his driveway repaired. After the work, the report says he let one of the men inside for a glass of water, but when he returned to the living room he was gone and his cell phone and a bank bag with $15,000 was missing.

WBTV asked Mack about the alleged crime, and he called it a misunderstanding.

Gary Wall says he filed a police report with Gaston County Police in August for fraud, after he says Mack and Carrol charged him $700 dollars to repair his cracked driveway.

Wall says the surface they put on the driveway washed away within a day, revealing the cracks were still there.

“I did contact them,” he said. “They said they’d be back to repair the driveway, but they never came back.”

Wall says he watched WBTV and recognized the men in the “Wanted for Questioning” posters out of Richmond County, Georgia, as the same people who worked on his driveway.

“I was thinking it’s the same guys, it’s the same thing,” he said.

Wall was given the same business card and invoice as the people living in Lincoln County, who filed police reports citing a similar experience.

Gaston County Police Investigators are adding details to Wall’s report, as they get more information.

They took another report from Wall’s neighbor who said the same thing happened to him.

“When we start seeing it happening over and over again, we want to look into it,” Gaston County Police Captain Matt Hensley told WBTV.

Captain Hensley suggests people be careful about who they’re paying for services.

“If you feel uneasy about someone going door to door and what they’re trying to sell you, it’s unsolicited, give the police a call, we’re glad to come out and check on folks,” he said.

Mack refused to give an interview and told WBTV that this was all a big misunderstanding.

Other people living in Gastonia, Kannapolis and Salisbury contacted WBTV saying the same thing happened to them.

One woman in Gastonia says when she called Mack, he actually did return to re-do the driveway the next day, but she says the surface washed away once again.

If this happened to you, police ask that you contact the police department in your jurisdiction.

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