Landlord seeks eviction of New Lenox man charged with home repair fraud

A landlord wants to evict a New Lenox man charged with stealing thousands of dollars from customers throughout Will County through home repair fraud schemes.

On March 22, landlord Ronny Christensen filed an eviction complaint against William Vranicar, 59; his company, Top Notch Counters; and any other occupants from property in the 9500 block of West Manhattan-Monee Road in Green Garden Township, which is in the Frankfort area.

Christensen accused Vranicar of owing him about $31,345 in rent from June 1 to Feb. 2. Christensen said he terminated the lease because of the lack of rent. Vranicar was served the lawsuit while in jail, records show.

The lawsuit spells another potential blow to the fortunes of Vranicar, who has been in jail since Feb. 18 after extensive investigations by the Will County Sheriff’s Office and the Shorewood Police Department.

Sheriff detectives not only investigated Top Notch, but also Express Cabintry and Express Kitchen and Bath, all of which have been operating out of the same Monee-Manhattan Road location, sheriff officials said.

Sheriff’s detectives determined that Vranicar used various schemes to steal money from customers, such as taking a deposit but never beginning a project, police said.

“On other occasions, Vranicar would begin the project by tearing down the customer’s old cabinetry and never installing the new cabinets ordered by the customer,” police said.

Detectives believe dozens of Will County residents have been “swindled by Vranicar’s schemes, exceeding well over $100,000,” police said.

Prosecutors filed two criminal cases against Vranicar.

In one of the cases, Vranicar is charged with submitting a claim for state unemployment benefits after claiming he had been laid off from Express Cabinetry, a company he owns, “due to lack of work, which the defendant knew to be false.”

Vranicar was charged with receiving $11,172 in state unemployment benefits.