Trial set for men accused in $500K pool company fraud involving 16 customers

Two Barrie, Ont. men are accused of defrauding customers of their pool and landscaping company could be headed to trial next fall.

Two Barrie, Ont. men accused of defrauding customers of their pool and landscaping company could be headed to trial next fall.

Jamie Galipeau, 49, and Matthew Tayler, 48, are accused of defrauding 16 customers from across Simcoe County out of $500,000 during the pandemic. A total five weeks of trial dates have been set for next October before a judge alone in the Superior Court of Justice in Barrie.

It has been a year and a half since Galipeau and Tayler were charged by provincial police with 14 counts of fraud over $5,000 and 14 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses when several customers came forward to CTV News in August 2023, alleging they were scammed by Sommerland Pools and Landscapes about three years ago.

• Ontario pool company accused of defrauding customers of thousands of dollars

Customers said they put down deposits of tens of thousands of dollars, but the company never completed, or in some cases, started the work.

“We were duped,” said customer Daniel Pecarski in August 2023. “Unfortunately, you know, the first feeling you have is embarrassment; this should not have happened to me,” he told CTV News.

Customers like Ravi Dhillon and Dipesh Mistry said their backyard was left a mess when worked suddenly stopped. They said Galipeau and Tayler blamed one another for their problems and Tayler stopped the project following weeks of delays and excuses.

“He kind of said he was in dispute with his partner and that he didn’t know when he could finish our jobs at that point there was literally a bomb site of a backyard,” said Mistry in 2023.

Tayler told CTV News he did not take the money and run. Tayler and Galipeau have not responded to further requests for comment since being charged in May 2024.

• Barrie men charged with fraud in OPP investigation into pool installation scam

Galipeau and Tayler made several court appearances this summer before a Barrie judge. The Crown was later granted a direct indictment to the Superior Court of Justice by the Ministry of the Attorney General.

The allegations against the accused have not been tested in court.