Different contractor named in Boardman theft allegation
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BOARDMAN -- The contractor accused of taking money from a Boardman woman without completing the work is not the same man whose name and face have been plastered across local news lately.
A report in Thursday's Vindicator outlines the complaints from an Applewood Acres resident who told police she paid a contractor $5,000 toward a $20,000 home-improvement project more than a year ago, but the work remains unfinished and the contractor has stopped responding to her.
While that behavior matches the modus operandi of John P. Bartos III, who was arrested on multiple warrants this week and has already been convicted for doing the same thing to customers across the Mahoning Valley, the Boardman woman's complaint does not involve Bartos.
Rather, the allegations are against Edward Yurkovich of Boardman, doing business as Xtreme Painting and Remodeling.
The homeowner, Noel Smith, said she wants to know when people such as Yurkovich and Bartos will be held truly accountable.
"At what point is it enough? There's no repercussions. The system is failing us hardworking honest people," she said. "We're stuck trying to recoup our losses and save money to have the damages fixed. It took me years to save that money. $20,000 may not be a lot to some people but it's like a million to me."
The Boardman report states that Smith signed a $20,000 contract in August 2025, and the contractor she hired came to the house several times through November and completed most of the work, but the backyard and back porch work was never completed.
She said multiple attempts to contact him since November have failed.
Smith also told police that one of the laborers on the job told her Yurkovich routinely sent him texts making excuses for why he couldn't be there.
She said Yurkovich never provided receipts for soap that should have been used in power washing her house before it was painted. She said a laborer told her no soap was ever bought or used.
Smith said it shows in the work. Old grass clippings and dead spiders were painted over, in some places the brick was never painted, and some of the new paint is already chipping off.
What's worse is that the crime is not technically theft.
She said Boardman police told her that because she paid him to paint the house and he did, she cannot claim theft. The contract also included no clearly stated end date. Even though she was told the work would be done by Oct. 1, that's not legally binding.
She said the Ohio Attorney General's office told her the complaint would likely be referred for mediation, not prosecution.
The Boardman police report states Smith discovered that the same contractor had been accused of doing the same thing to a woman in Poland Township in 2023, and cites a specific Poland Township police report.
The police report from the Poland incident names Yurkovich and his company.
In that complaint, the resident, then 81, told Poland Township police that she hired Yurkovich for work at her Woodland Road home, with an agreement requiring her to purchase supplies and pay some labor costs. She said she paid $15,554, but over time saw less and less work being performed until the project effectively stopped.
After nearly a year, she said she contacted Yurkovich asking for either a refund or the materials she had purchased. She said he promised to return the supplies but never did and then stopped returning her calls. She told police she wanted to pursue theft charges.
The report states that when Poland Township police contacted Yurkovich, he denied the allegations, saying he had begun the work but the project took longer than expected because of supply shortages and difficulty finding labor. He said he had recently returned to the property but the woman told him he was unwelcome and she wanted her money back. He told police he was trying to finish another job so he could repay her by the end of the month. That was in early August 2023. In September, the woman said she still had not heard from him.
The police report indicates that the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office declined to file charges against Yurkovich and police told the woman she would have to pursue the matter in civil court.
There is no online record of such a suit being filed. However, a 2021 civil suit from a woman in Boardman suggests a questionable pattern of behavior on the part of Yurkovich.
In that case, a Mahoning County magistrate ordered Yurkovich to pay back at least $3,500 that the plaintiffs gave him as an advance on work he never finished.
The case notes show that the homeowners contracted him to renovate a guest house, giving Yurkovich an $8,000 down payment toward a $16,250 contract. They then advanced him the $3,500, "after which no work was completed."
The case notes state that the homeowners then paid another contractor $9,000.00 to do the job, and ultimately their costs amounted to about $20,500.
"The defendant acknowledged no work nor supplies were provided after payment of the $3,500.00," the record states.
An elderly couple in Canfield, both physically disabled, also were bilked by Yurkovich, Smith said. That couple lost more than $25,000.
"I feel even more heartbroken for them than for myself," she said. "They are totally living amongst the chaos he left behind."
Unlike Bartos' 44 complaints under the Ohio Attorney General's consumer complaints database, there are only two attached to Yurkovich's business, Extreme Paint and Remodeling, both filed this month. One of those was made by Smith, and the complaint number matches the one in the Boardman police report. It was filed on Sept. 16. A separate complaint was filed on Tuesday.
All complaints against Bartos are filed under his former business, Gridiron Windows and Doors. There are no filings yet recorded for his current business name, Pro Windows and Patio Doors.