Contractor with trail of legal issues surfaces in Florida arrest

FOX 2 - James Delmaro, a contractor with a history of leaving customers upset and a history of legal issues, is in custody, officials say.

According to the Michigan Department of Corrections and a victim down in Florida, he is facing new charges for the same old alleged story.

"When I saw your story there in Michigan, I said 'That's the guy,'" said Gary in a phone interview.

Watch in the live player above tonight at 10 p.m. as Rob Wolchek reports about the same contractor in a new place, with a different name and the same allegations.

The backstory:

In the fall of 2024, residents of Rogge Street in Detroit were visited by a guy who said he could fix their steps, roofs, driveways.  

Rob Wolchek: "What did he say his name was to you?'

"Jimmy, said Diana, a Rogge Street customer.

Jimmy and his crew of workers hit up all the neighbors on the block. Diana is one the few that would speak on camera.

"He was working on everybody at the same time," she said.

They started out doing a good job, then got more money - and disappeared.

Wolchek was out there with his photographer within days, but Jimmy was gone from Rogge street after collecting about $10,000 from victims on one block alone. Where did he go?

He then set his sights on Seminole Street across town.

"Our total is $8,700," said Peronica, a Seminole Street victim.

Peronica says Jimmy jacked her and her father doing bad work but promising to return and fix it.

"He texted me yesterday and told me he'd be here today," she said. "But of course he'll never show up."

Peronica wrote out checks to Jimmy who turned out to be a fresh parolee in Michigan with a list of aliases - the first one being Anthony Delmaro.

James Delmaro was charged in Detroit in early 2024 with running a criminal enterprise and 11 other felonies which could have gotten him locked up for 20 years.

But he ended up with a deal pleading guilty to just two felonies right as Wolchek started working on the first story and was placed on a GPS tether monitored by the Michigan Department of Corrections.  

Wolchek spent months looking for James Delmaro figuring he couldn't go far because after all, he was on a tether.  

But Delmaro dodged the law, cut his tether, and absconded.

In May, Wolchek did a story advising viewers to be on the lookout for him.

A few weeks ago - Wolchek heard from Gary.

"You stirred up the fire in me," he said. "This guy's gotta be stopped."

Gary lives in Fort Lauderdale. A guy came to his door offering to do asphalt, roofing and driveways.

"They show up, they start working right away so you think they're good," he said. "But then you give them money for supplies, then they don't show back up."

Gary shared a photo of the bad contractor he said is Delmaro.

Sound familiar? Gary says he gave the leader, this guy, who said his name was Eric, $5,000. But "Eric" and his crew disappeared.

"I was so angry that i fell into this guy's scam," Gary said. "I felt bad for my neighbors because they saw him doing work at my house, figured the neighbor hired him, so he must be good. So I felt bad.

"He took off so my only resource, even according to the police, was to hire a private investigator - which I did."

The investigator came up with a name - Delmaro. Gary used Google and came across Wolchek's story and called police.

A couple of days later, Fort Lauderdale police made the arrest.

Sergeant David Soika sent Wolchek a release that read:

"At approximately 7:10 a.m., on November 21st, 2025, Fort Lauderdale police officers came into contact with a male who possibly had several out of state warrants.

"During police officers’ initial investigation, the male identified himself as Sandy Marino. Officers continued their investigation and utilized a Fort Lauderdale Police department fingerprint device for further identification.

"The officers learned the individual they were in contact with was Anthony Delmaro.  Officers discovered Delmaro had several out of state felony warrants.  These warrants were confirmed through the agencies who entered these felony warrants.  Delmaro was arrested and ultimately transported to Broward County Main Jail.  

Police shared Delmaro's booking info at Broward County Jail. Notice, he is identified as Anthony Delmaro, not James Delmaro - but the birthdates are the same - 12/11/71.

Wolchek checked to make sure and received a statement from Jenni Riehle at the Michigan Department of Corrections who said it was him.

"I can confirm that probation absconder James Delmaro 766230 has been in custody at the Broward County Jail in Florida since 11/21/2025 under the name Anthony James Delmaro. He has been charged with ct 1. grand larceny, national emergency COVID-19 (typically from government emergency funding fraud), displaying a fake ID card, resisting officer without force, and false ID to police. We do plan to submit an addendum warrant for him."

Gary from Florida says there's no question, this is the guy who cheated him out of $5,000.

"I didn't get my money back but at least he's not out there hurting other people, scamming other people, taking people's money away," he said. "That's some payment to me."

Crime and Public SafetyFloridaMichigan