Jim Bethinger is grateful to state Attorney General Tom Corbett for suing a South Hills contractor he says cheated him and other city and suburban residents out of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Corbett, in turn, said through a spokesman that he is grateful to Mr. Bethinger of Garfield, Jim Bernauer of Crafton, Nora Fagan of Duquesne, Michele LeMaster of Observatory Hill and 43 others from throughout Allegheny County who filed complaints against William "Bill" Lacek.

Mr. Lacek, 58, of Bethel Park, has been doing business as "Bill-Tom-Joe Senior Carpenters," as "Mike-Bill-Tom Senior Carpenters" and as "Mike-Bill-Joe Senior Carpenters."

Mr. Lacek, who has been sued before for violating the state's consumer protection laws, found himself in more trouble last week. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear for a pretrial conference. He is scheduled to go to trial later this month in the Criminal Division of Common Pleas Court.

Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., said consumers who believe they have been cheated by Mr. Lacek can call the district attorney's detectives at 412-388-5300.

Mr. Lacek's record in the Criminal Division includes a number of theft by deception charges.

Mr. Corbett last week filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Mr. Lacek, accusing him of accepting payment for home improvement projects and:

Failing to start the work; leaving projects incomplete; performing work in a shoddy or unprofessional manner; not notifying consumers of their right to cancel contracts within three days; and operating a home improvement business without registering with the attorney general's office. The latter is a violation of a state law that went into effect July 1.

"Using hand-delivered fliers, Mr. Lacek targeted homeowners throughout Allegheny County, including a large number of senior citizens, by promising expert remodeling work at discount prices," Mr. Corbett said.

"Instead, consumers were left with empty wallets, incomplete projects and a long list of broken promises."

That's exactly the approach Mr. Bethinger said Mr. Lacek took to snare the 89-year-old retired truck driver who lives on a fixed income.

Mr. Bethinger found one of the "Attention Homeowners" fliers from "Senior Carpenters" in his front door last fall, called the company and spoke to Mr. Lacek about sealing a 400-square-foot flat back roof and replacing an 18-foot-long box gutter on the right side of the house.

Mr. Bethinger said Mr. Lacek came to his home and talked him into installing new shingles on the left side of his main roof. He said he paid him $4,500 toward the cost of a $6,500 job. The sealing of the flat roof was the only work that was done.

Although Mr. Lacek said in a voice mail in January that he would refund $4,000 to Mr. Bethinger, he never did, Mr. Bethinger said. He also owes $2,000 to Mr. Bernauer and "thousands of dollars" to Mrs. Fagan, they contend.

Mr. Bernauer, 60, a teacher, said he gave Mr. Lacek $2,800 to replace several old walkways around his house, pour a concrete pad for his grill and build an open-sided structure with a roof to protect the grill and himself during inclement weather. Mr. Lacek didn't do any of the work, Mr. Bernauer said, repaid $800 but still owes $2,000.

Mrs. Fagan, 61, who is on Social Security Disability, said she hired Mr. Lacek in April 2008 to remodel her kitchen and remove a wall in the dining room.

The work was started but never finished. She declined to say how much a down payment she made because "I feel so ashamed about how much I paid him."

Ms. LeMaster said she gave Mr. Lacek a check for $1,000 to fix a leak in the roof of a nature center she runs. She then paid him $800 more for supplies. He never did the work, didn't return phone calls and didn't return the money, she said.

Nils Frederiksen, a spokesman for Mr. Corbett, said the state Bureau of Consumer Protection has twice taken legal action against Mr. Lacek. He was involved in a consumer case in 2003 when he was employed by Lifetime Home Products of Pittsburgh and another one in 2004.

The allegations at that time were similar to the ones Mr. Corbett filed against him last week -- failing to perform work in a workmanlike manner, failing to complete jobs and failing to notify consumers they had three days to cancel a contract.

Mr. Frederiksen said Mr. Lacek also faces a number of civil and criminal cases filed by consumers who say he cheated them.

If Mr. Corbett's suit against him is successful, Mr. Lacek would have to pay restitution to his victims, pay a $1,000 fine for each violation of the applicable consumer laws and $3,000 for each violation if the victim is 60 or older.

Mr. Frederiksen said anyone else who has a similar complaint against Mr. Lacek can file charges with the attorney general's office by calling toll-free 1-800-441-2555 or go to www.attorneygeneral.gov.

"Without complaints from consumers, the system doesn't work," Mr. Frederiksen said. "If we don't hear about problems, we can't do anything to resolve them."