Bad fence builder faces judge to learn his fate

FOX 2 - It's sentencing day for James Goin, a fence contractor and habitual felon.

The backstory:

Even though he's just been convicted of taking thousands of dollars under false pretenses, somehow this is Rob Wolchek's fault, according to a recent phone interview.

Wolchek: "You don't sound very remorseful, Jim."

"No, no, no, no. Sir, sir, sir," Goin said. "It's not about being remorseful. You don't know what I've dealt with or how I feel.

"Talking to you and the problems that you caused for me and all these other people, and most importantly my son, it's hard for me to have a certain tone that you might appreciate."

It was just last October that James Goin was 'goin' into the Hall of Shame.

What's next:

We met a former customer named Paul in our 2024 story.

Wolchek: "So you went to his house, and what happened?"

Paul and Janice gave James Goin $5,000 as a down payment on a fence. They live in the same neighborhood as the guy.

"No call, no show," Janice said.

Joe also lives in Southgate and paid James Goin $1,342 but got no fence.

Then there was Kathy.

"The only time he's stepped foot on this property was to come and get his deposit," she said.

Kathy and Nick paid James, and instead of a fence, they got excuses.

"His mom is on hospice; his mother-in-law is on hospice," Kathy said.

And get this — Nick, his customer, really is sick. He's got cancer, and he's out $4,600 to James.

Connie paid James Goin $5,000 for a fence, and after a year of waiting, accused him of ripping her off. That made him mad!

"'Oh no, I didn't steal any money.' Well, I don't know what his definition of stealing is," she said.

Then there's Mary, who paid $4,500 and got no fence, and Duane, who paid $2,750 and got no fence.

His customers went after James, but no one could get the guy to come out of his house.

Finally, he went to Kroger — and so did Wolchek.

James Goin: "You don't approach people when they're with their kid. Get out of here. Call me."

Wolchek: "Listen, you've been taking money from a bunch of people and not completing the jobs, so don't give me some moral ethics (b.s.)."

After Wolchek's story, James Goin spent the next month in jail. He was charged with nine felony counts of taking money under false pretenses.

He was offered a deal to plead to two felonies and pay back all these victims of his fence farce.

His victims are still mad.

"I think he should have to pay everybody back and also do some jail time," said Joe.

Wolchek: "You don't have a problem with him sitting in jail for six months?"

"Absolutely not," said Duane.

And finally, it was sentencing day at the Wayne County Criminal Justice Center. Although everybody else was there in person, James Goin got to do his sentence hearing via Zoom.

"Please state your name for the court, please."

"James Lee Goin."

A victim Wolchek had never met before, named Janice, gave an impact statement.

"This threw me into a tailspin of serious debt," said Janice.

Judge Nicholas Hathaway sentenced Goin to pay back nine victims more than $20,000, and if he does that before the end of his two-year probation, he'll avoid jail.

After court, Janice told Wolchek how James Goin scolded her, saying that all her complaining on Facebook would embarrass his kids.

"I have a daughter too, besides him saying that he had children," she said. "I have a daughter who is in college for skilled trade, and I was helping to pay for that, so it kind of threw me backwards."

After court, Wolchek calls James Goin to get his side.

James Goin: "This completely was a blown-out-of-proportion situation, and we'll get this handled as soon as possible."

Wolchek: "What do you mean it was a blown-out situation? You took all that money from people."

Goin: "No, I didn't take a dollar from anybody. We established that in court, that I did no wrongdoing."

Actually, nothing like that was established in court. James then had the nerve to blame Wolchek for his kids being embarrassed at school.

Goin: "As far as these people, these innocent people, it's just about getting them paid back and moving on with my life. And that's all I'm going to do.

"But when I think of a child that you affected greatly..."

Wolchek: "James, you affected him. You're his father. Why don't you just do the right thing? You just pleaded no contest to two felonies, right? I would think that was the problem, not a reporter going after you. Take some responsibility, dude."

Goin: "Oh hell yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa. I have accepted responsibility. I've been trying to pay restitution and resolve this case for ten months now, it started."

James Goin, what a guy.

Goin: "At the end of the day, it's handled now, and let's move forward with it."

Wolchek: "Alright, James."

Goin: "I appreciate the phone call. Let's just get this over with, man."

Wolchek: "Alright. Pay people back, James. Hopefully, I'll never talk to you again."

James Goin — father, fence man, felon, you're in the Hhhhhhall of Shame!

Hall of ShameSouthgateWayne County