WESTPORT–A Stamford man was arrested by Westport police for allegedly taking $3,250 from a town resident for contract work that he never performed.
Francisco Mellado-Retana, 51, turned himself in at police headquarters on Jan. 5 in connection with a warrant issued for his arrest.
The Westport resident had reported on Oct. 21, 2025 that Mellado-Retana had stolen the money by reneging on the agreement. The alleged victim reported having contacted Mellado-Retana many times about the debt, which Mellado-Retana eventually tried to pay off with a check that bounced due to insufficient funds.
After appearing at the police department, Mellado-Retana was charged with third-degree larceny, a felony. He was released on a $7,500 bond and is due in Superior Court in Stamford on Jan. 22.
Unfortunately this kind of thing happens all too often. Contractors don’t finish the work or it isn’t done up to industry standards but still take the money, or the money is tied up in subcontracting or supplies and the customer is just completely powerless. People think this can’t happen to me, but of course it can. There is too much of this going on in the trades and this means contractors can’t evolve or expand their customer base and new homeowners can’t find trustworthy contractors. It’s a mess.
There is a wonderful platform called RELiBUILD that vets contractors before you hire them. My friend, Jon Small, a master electrician who services a lot of Westport families, is behind it. It also has financial protection features built into the contracts. They have contractors all over Connecticut and Fairfield county, https://www.relibuild.com/