FAIRFAX, Va. — A hearing against a Virginia-based contractor at the center of a nine-month-long WUSA9 investigation now moves forward to Fairfax County Circuit Court, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Fairfax County District Court Judge Pidikiti-Smith said there was sufficient cause against Home Contractor Richard Craig Tadlock and certified the case to proceed to Fairfax County Circuit Court. From there, the grand jury will decide whether or not it moves forward to trial.
"Our case is still ongoing. We do intend to defend Mr. Tadlock in all the matters and ask the public to reserve judgement," said Kiana Noorishad, an attorney representing Tadlock.
Richard Craig Tadlock is accused of five felony counts, including failure to perform construction, advance pay and larceny. Nearly a dozen Virginia families and several in Maryland told WUSA9 that Tadlock agreed to build their houses, but sometime during the construction process, stopped working and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars of their money.
WUSA9 has learned the allegations in Virginia represent a fraction of the claims against him. Allegations against Tadlock span three decades with some of the alleged victims out more than $400,000.
RELATED: Virginia contractor appears before a judge after taking money from families, not finishing projects
"Anybody who sees this will definite intent to commit fraud and take people's money," said one of the alleged victims who testified.
Although Tadlock declined WUSA9’s recent request for comment, he did previously speak to Larry Miller in the summer of 2023, and said the growing list of allegations against him were not true.
“These people are lying and conniving people,” Tadlock said in a phone interview.
In court, Tadlock’s lawyer maintained the allegations are both unfounded and untrue and added that no fraud was committed because in every case, the houses were partially constructed. The prosecutor contested it is fraud; citing Tadlock’s inaction and silence when the homeowners demanded their money be returned when the work wasn’t done.
"We're happy that the victims of Tadlock got to share their story and we're happy the courts saw it the way they did," said James Ferrell, another homeowner who also testified Tadlock did not finish his house in Springfield, Virginia.
Tadlock was admonished twice by Judge Pidikiti-Smith for talking during witness testimony and using inappropriate language. Legal proceedings are expected to continue sometime this summer.
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