Contractor Fraud And Embezzlement Trial

A father and son were hired to do countless construction jobs, but instead, they were allegedly working to take clients money. Now one of them is on trial.

Our New Mexico Mobile Newsroom was inside Dona Ana County District Court Wednesday, where witnesses took the stand.

Those who spoke said, they had no problem getting contractors Gary Winsor and his father Raymond, who has since died, to collect upfront payments. But once they had the money, witnesses said Winsor never returned to actually do the work he was hired for.

“The roof was exposed to the elements, it wasn’t even waterproof anymore, it was cold in the house, and there were drafts,” Sharon Gonzales, a witness who took the stand, said.

Gonzales said Winsor left her house in shambles, after she paid him about $6,000 to fix her roof and install a heating and cooling system. A job she was told would take two to three weeks, Gonzales said, it was longer than that before Winsor even showed up to get started, and once he did begin the project, he never finished, Gonzales said.

Prosecutors said Winsor ripped off 15 other sets of victims.

Another witness who testified after Gonzales said she paid Winsor $5,000. But after she wrote her check, Winsor disappeared.

“And then one day they showed up and they hadn’t come for a little bit and had to go to a convention in Texas, so they were going to take the equipment because they didn’t want to leave it out, and that’s when I knew… they weren’t going to come back,” Edwina Marquez said.

The accusers said they ultimately had to hire separate contractors to finish the work on their homes, and ended up paying much more in the end.

ABC-7 has followed this story since 2006, when people voiced similar complaints. ABC-7 has made several attempts to contact Winsor in the past few years leading up to this trial, but the station has never received any response in his defense.

The trial continues Friday.