For 21 Minnesota families, the promise was simple and appealing: pay a down payment, secure a spot in the summer construction schedule, and enjoy a new backyard concrete pool by the end of the season. Instead, they got excavated holes, ripped-up yards, and, in many cases, nothing at all — while their money disappeared.

Charles Ray Workman (MN Crete Pools, LLC), a Scott County man in the Twin Cities area, was the contractor behind those broken promises. United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen announced that Charles Ray Workman, 41, of Scott County, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis on September 3, 2026. Through his fraudulent scheme, Workman stole at least $820,000 from his customers and he was ordered to pay $1.15 million in restitution.

What Happened

Authorities say Workman owned MN Crete Pools, LLC, a Minnesota company that marketed and sold concrete swimming pools to families and individuals throughout the Twin Cities area, and beginning in 2021 and continuing through 2022, he marketed and advertised concrete swimming pools and pool installation services to customers around Minnesota.

The pitch relied on urgency. Workman told customers that their down payment would "secure" their spot in MN Crete Pools' workload for pool installation that same year — all while knowing the pools were unlikely to ever be completed. The pattern of failure was evident early. Between April 2021 and June 2021, Workman collected down payments from roughly one customer a month and failed to complete pool projects for any of them, yet he increased the rate at which he signed up customers and collected down payments throughout the remaining summer months.

He also manufactured scarcity to pressure buyers. He sometimes falsely told customers he had only one spot left before continuing to sign up more customers after making that claim. As the backlog grew, so did the excuses. Workman allegedly told customers the reason their pool had yet to be installed was due to COVID-related delays, weather, or equipment shortages when in reality they were caused by his own failure to utilize his customers' down payments for completion of the promised work, the indictment reads.

Why It Was Easy

The scheme worked because of a structural weakness common to home-improvement contracting: money changes hands up front, before any work is guaranteed, and there is often nothing holding those funds in place. Once a homeowner wires a down payment, the contractor typically controls it outright.

Market conditions made the con even easier. An investigation by the Attorney General's Office revealed that since Workman started MN Crete Pools in 2021, he falsely represented his experience as a pool builder, and because most pool contractors were booked out months or years, he and his company got business by falsely telling consumers that they had one immediate opening left for the season.

Instead of reserving the money for materials and labor, Workman spent it. The indictment says Workman "regularly converted some or all of the customers' payments to his own use," using the money to pay child support, spending more than $18,000 at a casino and more than $6,000 on a horse and saddle. Workman's alleged mishandling of money left the company unable to refund the customers their money or complete the pool installations, the indictment states.

The Investigation

The case did not begin with federal agents — it began with journalism. The criminal indictment followed a months-long WCCO investigation that exposed that Workman took hundreds of thousands of dollars collectively from more than a dozen Minnesota families and abandoned the jobs. The FBI began investigating Workman after WCCO shared stories of people who had paid him with their life savings and never got the promised pool; agents got statements from those families who are out tens of thousands of dollars, and the United States Attorney's Office used that information to prosecute Workman.

State authorities moved first. In January 2023, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced a default judgment in Scott County District Court against Workman and MN Crete Pools, LLC, that permanently bans Workman and his company from the residential construction industry in Minnesota.

The federal case followed. Workman was arrested on March 27, 2023, in Nashville, Tennessee, and pleaded guilty on September 16, 2025. For many affected families, the losses extended beyond unfinished swimming pools — customers had already altered yards, removed landscaping or prepared properties for construction that either stalled or never occurred.

Workman defrauded hardworking Minnesotans and used those funds to enrich himself. Today's sentence ensures that he is held accountable for his actions.— United States Attorney Daniel N. Rosen, U.S. Department of Justice press release, September 2026

What Escrow Would Have Changed

The core failure in the MN Crete Pools case was not the promise — it was custody of the money. Workman took possession of down payments directly and spent them on personal expenses before doing any work. A properly structured escrow arrangement removes that possibility entirely: funds are held by a neutral third party and released only as verified construction milestones are met, so a contractor never controls a lump sum he has not yet earned.

Under an escrow or milestone-release model, the pattern investigators described — collecting one down payment after another while completing nothing — becomes far harder to sustain, because no additional funds are disbursed until prior work is documented and inspected. Minnesota's own consumer guidance points the same direction. State advice notes that while a token "good faith" down payment is customary, it should not be more than a small percentage of the total job, and any contractor who insists on a large down payment should be avoided. A holdback clause — withholding final payment until the homeowner can inspect completed work — provides similar protection.

Minnesota does offer a backstop, but it is a slow and capped one. The Contractor's Recovery Fund, created by state statute and operated by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, compensates owners and even lessees of residential property for out-of-pocket losses due to a contractor's improper conduct. However, it comes with hard limits. A homeowner cannot apply to it immediately after the transaction; instead, one must first sue the contractor and successfully obtain a civil judgment. Critically, the Contractor's Recovery Fund only applies to losses that are caused by a licensed contractor, and payouts are capped — applicants may be paid up to $75,000 per claim. Against $820,000 in stolen funds spread across 21 families, that is thin protection compared with never letting the money leave escrow in the first place.

The FBI framed the takeaway plainly for homeowners. The agency called the outcome an opportunity to remind homeowners to carefully research contractors before handing over their hard-earned money. Escrow is one of the few mechanisms that would have made handing over that money safe.

Today's sentence shows there are real consequences for betraying the trust of Minnesotans investing in and improving their homes.— FBI Minneapolis Criminal Branch Assistant Special Agent in Charge Benni Jonsson, U.S. Department of Justice press release, September 2026

Sources