MN Pool Contractor Ripped Off Customers To Pay Child Support: Feds

SCOTT COUNTY, MN — A Prior Lake man has been federally indicted in a scheme to defraud homeowners in a $750,000 swimming pool contracting scheme, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

Charles R. Workman, 37, faces four counts of wire fraud. The federal charges came after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison successfully sued to have Workman and his company, MN Crete Pools, banned from operating in the state.

Prosecutors said instead of building pools, Workman used customers’ payments for his own personal use, including:

• $3,000 in child support payments
• $18,000 at a casino
• $6,000 on a horse and saddle

Workman was arrested on March 27 in Nashville, Tennessee. He made his initial appearance in the Middle District of Tennessee. His arraignment is set for April 10 in the U.S. District of Minnesota.

MN Crete Pools marketed and sold concrete swimming pools to families across the Twin Cities metro area, according to authorities.

In 2021, Workman began soliciting down payments for the swimming pools, investigators said. He told customers that in exchange for the down payment, he could "secure" their spot in the company's workload for the year, according to prosecutors.

Between April 2021 and June 2021, Workman collected down payments from about one customer a month but failed to complete pool projects for any of those customers, authorities said.

Workman falsely told customers that his company had only one more opening to build a pool, but then kept taking payments from new clients, according to authorities.

Workman fraudulently received more than $750,000 in payments from customers who never received a complete swimming pool, investigators said.