Embezzlement, failure to perform construction work
A Rappahannock District Court judge ruled Tuesday that there was enough evidence to send Flint Hill contractor Edward “Eddie” Fletcher Jr.’s case to a grand jury. Fletcher, owner of E. Fletcher Construction, faces charges of embezzlement and failure to perform promised construction work.
Fletcher was arrested in February after Robert and Alexandra McKee ended their construction contract with him and filed charges. The couple alleges he accepted more than $450,000 in advances for a remodel of their Woodville home but failed to complete the work.
In court Tuesday, Robert McKee testified that he and his wife hired Fletcher to perform the renovation work in March 2023 but by August 2024, little progress had been made and no building permits had been obtained.
When McKee pressed Fletcher about the permits, Fletcher blamed a secretary for failing to file the paperwork. McKee said he later learned the secretary did not exist.
The McKees also paid Fletcher more than $30,000 to order appliances, according to McKee’s testimony. Capt. James Jones of the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office testified that his investigation uncovered that while the appliances had been ordered, the supplier never received payment.
In late August 2024, the couple contacted an attorney, David Konick, then terminated the contract, McKee and Konick testified. McKee said some demolition work that had been performed took up “significant time and obviously was a huge inconvenience.” He said the bathroom was left demolished, floor boards were pulled up and several tools and items were left behind.
Fletcher and his crew did perform some paint and restoration work on outbuildings on the property, McKee said. The crew had also begun digging footings for the renovation, but when the McKees found out there were still no permits, they told the crew to stop the work.
Fletcher’s attorney, T. Huntly Thorpe III, moved to strike both charges against Fletcher, and said there was no attempt by Fletcher to defraud the McKees. He said work was in progess, and an amended schedule for the project’s completion was discussed in emails a week before the McKees’ termination letter was sent to Fletcher.
Thorpe argued in “typical fraud cases … the money is given to someone for a service and then poof, they’re gone.
“That is not the case here. There was constant contact. His men were working [at the home],” Thorpe added.
But Commonwealth’s Attorney Art Goff countered that Fletcher did “take the money and run.” He said bank records show a $32,000 appliance payment from the McKees deposited into Fletcher’s personal account, which was “spent down to $300 in 30 days’ time.”
“[There was] communication, and frustration, and nothing had been done … yet $400,000 had been advanced,” Goff said.
Judge Jessica L. Foster found probable cause to certify the charges to a grand jury, which will hear the case Nov. 10. Fletcher remains free on bond until his next court appearance.
