Richard John Williams, 66, was sentenced by Judge Arthur Mann to four years and eight months in state prison for charges of grand theft, failing to appear, and contracting without a license, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson.
Mann also ordered Williams to pay four victims more than $20,000 in restitution, Abelson said.
Williams had been scheduled to appear for sentencing on April 27, 2009, when Abelson said he failed to appear and Judge Mann issued a no bail warrant. Williams had numerous previous arrests, including an arrest for a paving scam.
The Lake County District Attorney’s Office filed an additional felony case for failing to appear while out on bail with a special allegation that Williams committed that crime while he was released on bail in a felony.
Thanks to the investigators at the Contractor’s State Licensing Board, Oklahoma Law Enforcement and local bail bondsman Rob Brown, Williams was apprehended in Oklahoma and was eventually extradited back to Lake County to face charges in July of this year, Abelson said.
On Aug. 27, 2010, Williams entered into pleas of no contest to a felony charge of failing to appear, with the special allegation and a misdemeanor count of contracting without a license, Abelson said.
Once Williams was re-apprehended in July he was represented by attorney Katherine Elliott of Ukiah, while Abelson prosecuted the case.
Abelson said the original case against Williams was investigated by investigators from the Contractor’s State Licensing Board, Karen Nicley and Stuart Rind, the latter now an investigator with the Department of Insurance.
The subsequent two cases were a joint effort with Contractor’s State Licensing Board Investigator
and the District Attorney's Office's Investigations Bureau, she said.
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