Two home repairmen from Charlotte, North Carolina, have been sentenced to prison for failing to report over $1.5 million in income earned by overcharging elderly clients for home and car repairs. The announcement was made by Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
David Angelo Quick, 43, of Charlotte, received a sentence of 20 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $296,300 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Tony Joshua Christo, 34, formerly of Charlotte and now living in Florida, was sentenced to 15 months in prison with one year of supervised release and must pay $227,548 in restitution to the IRS.
Rodney Hopkins, Inspector in Charge of the Atlanta Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), which oversees North Carolina, and Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) at the Charlotte Field Office joined U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.
According to court documents and statements made during hearings, between 2018 and 2021 Quick and Christo provided home repair and improvement services as well as car repairs primarily targeting elderly clients. They collectively received more than $1.5 million from these customers but did not report any of this income on their federal tax returns.
Quick owned David Quick Home Improvements—a business offering roofing, painting, driveway construction and other services—despite not being a licensed contractor. Christo worked alongside his brother Quick.
Court records indicate that some elderly clients were defrauded through inflated charges for repairs. Quick would often approach elderly individuals about fixing damage to their cars in supermarket parking lots; after being hired for those jobs he would persuade them they needed additional work done around their homes. The two then charged high fees for tasks such as painting garage floors or replacing windows.
Payments received from these activities were not reported to the IRS.
“The defendants will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility,” according to the statement.
The case was investigated by IRS-CI and USPIS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Caryn Finley prosecuted the case.
