Oklahoma Man Faces Charges Of Grand Theft, Unlicensed Contracting In Florida

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A man is in the Tulsa County Jail tied to several cases of frauding people while working as a contractor in several states.

He's awaiting extradition to Florida since he’s most recently been accused of stealing money from hurricane victims. Fort Myers Florida Police said Michael Key took thousands of dollars from flood victims in Florida before fleeing and coming back to Oklahoma.

One woman said Key destroyed her home in Mounds doing contracting work for them.

“We trusted him,” she said.

When Ashley Villarreal’s dishwasher started leaking last April, she said she was desperate for someone to help. After posting on social media, someone from Metro Restoration and Remodeling reached out and said they could help. Shortly after, she said Michael Key showed up at her Mounds home.

“It started rolling," she said. "That was Monday. Tuesday, they showed up and started ripping up our kitchen."

Ashley said she, her husband, and their newborn baby were put up in a hotel for a couple of weeks.

 "In this process, keep in mind, I did pay him $10,000 to start the rebuild," Ashley said. 

But red flags started going up. Things were moving too slowly, and the company was barely responding. After paying more money, some progress was made, but by the end of the summer, that had stopped.

"This was recordings because, at some point, I felt like something was going wrong," she said.

Ashley took Key to small claims court but said she still hasn’t seen a dime.

Thankfully, another contractor was able to fix the major issues in the kitchen by the end of the year. She said there are still issues to this day from Key's contracting work. 

Michael Key was arrested last week for embezzlement, fraud, and for the charges out of Lee County, Florida.

Police said Key came to Florida during Hurricane Ian and took at least one $30,000 payment from someone to fix their storm-damaged home before returning to Oklahoma.

Ashley said she hopes others will use caution when hiring contractors.

“It was hard, it was very hard," she said.

Police are still looking for other victims of Michael Key.

He is set to be sent back to Florida for the charges he faces there.