A Newfoundland and Labrador man who formerly worked as a contractor in P.E.I. is back in provincial court on a newly laid fraud charge.
The P.E.I. RCMP charged Colton Chaulk, 30, with fraud under $5,000 — connected to a payment he accepted for a cottage renovation back in the summer of 2021.
Chaulk no longer lives on the Island, so the summons had to be served by the RCMP in Newfoundland. He made his first appearance in court virtually in early December.
He did not have a lawyer at the time, but has since been taken on as a P.E.I. legal aid client.
Lawyer Conor Mullin represented Chaulk during a brief appearance on Monday. Mullin asked for adjournment, telling Judge Nancy Orr they were hoping to have resolution discussions with the Crown.
Taking advantage of building boom
Chaulk owned CWD Construction and was working as a contractor on the Island during the pandemic building boom, when there was a spike in demand for qualified tradespeople that the local labour market couldn’t meet.
This prompted the Construction Association of P.E.I. to warn Islanders it was seeing a record number of unqualified contractors and scammers advertising services on sites like Facebook marketplace and Kijiji.
During that time, court documents allege Chaulk took $9,000 from a Savage Harbour cottage owner as a deposit. The details around what happened after that have not been proven or shared in court.
P.E.I. experienced a huge building boom after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry leaders have said that ill-intentioned people moved in to fill that demand. (Canadian Press)
In 2023 Chaulk pleaded guilty to three counts of theft over $5,000 and two counts of use of a forged document.
He was also ordered to repay thousands of dollars he had taken from a number of Prince Edward Island clients for work he didn’t end up doing.
Chaulk was sentenced to 20 months in jail and three years of ongoing probation that was transferred to his home province. One of the conditions is that he must tell anybody he works for about the crimes he committed in P.E.I.
Chaulk will be back in court on his newest fraud charge on Jan 20.
Â