ESCANABA — A local contractor was bound over from Delta County District Court over to circuit court on Friday on charges of contractor fraud and false pretenses.

Scott Allen DeMeuse, who operates S&G Roofing in Escanaba, was in Delta County District Court before Judge Steve Parks for his preliminary hearing.

According to Delta County Prosecutor Lauren Wickman, DeMeuse is accused of one count of contractor – fraudulent use of building contract fund and one count of false pretenses – $20,000 or more for jobs that took place in 2024.

After the court proceedings, Wickman explained the origin of the charges.

The false pretenses charge stems from a job he took on after telling the clients he was a licensed and insured roofer.

“He claimed to be licensed and insured, and it turns out he’s not licensed and insured. And the reason why they (the clients) chose to go with him in large part was because of his license and insured status. And he did not do appropriate work; it’s had to be fixed since then, and there was a whole myriad of issues,” Wickman explained.

The clients had to hire another company to rectify the previous work done by DeMeuse. Through that process, they began to investigate the situation.

In another instance related to the contractor fraud charge, a client hired DeMeuse for a job and paid a deposit for the work.

“He never completed the work and has not returned the money,” Wickman said.

One instance was investigated by the Michigan State Police (MSP), and the other was investigated by the Escanaba Public Safety Department.

Throughout the case, DeMeuse has not had an attorney present and does not qualify for a court-appointed attorney.

“I told you a number of times the importance of having representation and the dangers of self-representation. But here we are in for a preliminary examination, and you are not represented by an attorney,” Parks said.

DeMeuse said he has been trying to hire an attorney and has a few more jobs to complete to secure the funds for an attorney.

Before getting into the preliminary examination, Wickman offered DeMeuse a plea deal.

“In each case, he would plead to a lesser count of larceny by false pretenses – $1,000 to $20,000, dismissing the original counts, and then (we’re) trying to get him motivated to pay back the victims. A sentencing agreement would enter if restitution was paid in full by the time of sentencing with an agreement that he would not serve more than four months in jail. If that’s not paid in full in both cases, then there’s no sentencing agreement,” Wickman explained.

Wickman said the amount of restitution has not been determined yet.

Parks explained the options to DeMeuse, which include waiving his preliminary exam and accepting the plea deal, waiving his preliminary hearing and not yet accepting the plea deal (Wickman said the plea deal is still on the table even if not immediately accepted), or go forward with the preliminary examination as scheduled, which would result in the prosecution revoking the plea offer.

DeMeuse wanted to make sure that if he waived the preliminary examination, he would not be admitting guilt.

Parks said he was not admitting guilt, just bypassing the hearing.

DeMeuse agreed to waive the preliminary examination but did not accept the plea offer.

The plea offer remains on the table, and DeMeuse indicated he would continue to look for representation.

DeMeuse’s case is now in circuit court and will be placed on the docket in the near future.