Florida sheriff arrests Texas roofer for attempting to work on homes damaged by Hurricane Ian

Florida sheriff deputies have arrested a roofer from Texas who was attempting to repair houses in an area that was hit hard by Hurricane Ian.

According to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), the owner of Duque Roofing, Terence Duque, was arrested last Friday for contracting without a Florida license, which is a felony crime.

CCSO said that the Charlotte County Economic Crimes Unit received a call from an investigator at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation at 1:30 p.m. last Friday.

“The investigator informed the CCSO detective that a roofing company, Duque Roofing, was found to be in Charlotte County, conducting business without a Florida license to do so, and that a homeowner had already agreed to a contract with them,” CCSO’s post about the arrest said.

The post also noted that Duque thought he was in the right by showing up to repair hurricane damaged roofs.

CCSO said that Duque had read the Governor’s State of Emergency order regarding contractors, and that he understood it to mean that contractors from out of state were permitted to work in Florida. But the order only eased rules for contractors within the state, not from out of state.

The sheriff said Duque told officers that an employee of his made contact with the Florida Department of Business Regulation (DPBR) and that a representative had given him permission to conduct business in Florida, though he could not provide the name of the representative.

Duque Roofing has been in business in Texas and Louisiana for 13 years and is rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. The company has done work in the aftermath of several hurricanes, and on its website says that employees provide tarps, food and water for those impacted. The company also has a focus on providing jobs for veterans.

Florida contractor requirements are notoriously strict and costly, more so than in Texas, according to the website Construction Dive. But the requirements are mainly meant to make sure businesses in Florida are up to standard. Meanwhile, Duque Roofing is already known for doing solid work in multiple states.

“The extensive financial and application requirements of licensing systems, like there are in Florida and California, help weed out those financially unprepared to run a construction business,” Construction Dive wrote.

The requirements in Florida may also be to make sure predatory contractors don’t take the money and run, the website says. But with Duque’s extensive record of doing post-disaster repairs, and the several large construction trailers and RV that they brought to Charlotte County as documented by CCSO, there’s no evidence that the company had plans to scam people out of money.

Still, CCSO Sheriff Bill Prummell accused Duque of “victimizing” residents.

“Ignorance is not an excuse,” Prummell wrote. “If you are in Charlotte County, doing business with the people of this community, you had better be on the up-and-up and have the appropriate licensing and insurance. These people have been through enough, and I will not allow unlicensed contractors to further victimize them.”

CCSO’s press release said that Duque was transported to Charlotte County Jail without incident. But in a search of CCSO’s arrest portal, Duque’s name did not appear in the results. DPBR, CCSO and Duque roofing have not yet responded to requests for comment from Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

Yesterday, DPBR celebrated the arrest of Duque on Twitter, and received a lot of pushback from the public.

“During a State of Emergency, working without proper licensure is a felony. Thanks to #DBPR's Division of Regulation's hard work in impacted areas, @CCSOFLSheriff arrested an unlicensed roofing worker putting Floridians at risk,” DBPR wrote, with a picture of what looks like Duque being arrested by CCSO beneath the text.

Then, the comments started coming in.

“You guys are a disgrace,” one commenter wrote.

“Are you aware that you’re the bad guys?” another wrote.

Nearly 900 comments have poured in as of now, along with almost 400 quote Tweets, just about all of them berating CCSO and DPBR for the arrest.

Here are a few of the tweets...