A builder in the northern suburbs has been charged with fraud after being accused of abandoning multiple home improvement projects and pocketing the money.

Annemarie Stornello hired the contractor in 2022 to replace her roof, fix a rusted pipe in her laundry room and upgrade her kitchen and bathrooms.

“It needed some upgrading,” Stornello said. “It’s an older home and I hired him to do some contracting work.”

Stornello said the contractor, Adam Shaf, finished some of the work but there were problems with several of the projects.

“I’m fearful with heavy-weighted snow my roof could potentially collapse because the sub roofing underneath was bowing,” she said. “The new roof was bowing. It was not leveled, laying flat.”

After spending $200,000, she eventually fired Shaf and had to pay other contractors to finish her work.

Attorney Maelene Torres is representing three clients who are suing Shaf, saying he pocketed more than $500,000 between them and either left projects unfinished, or didn’t begin work at all.

“It usually has something to do with the backyard, whether it was pergola, outdoor kitchen landscaping or pool, same thing happened,” Torres said. “Another client put a significant amount of money down and no work was ever performed. No breaking of the ground, nothing. Just took it and ran.”

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office has now filed criminal charges against the Lake Zurich contractor on three counts of money laundering, theft and home repair fraud, saying Shaf operated under multiple business names, like Backyard Escape, Build n Build and Lake Zurich Building Group.

Although many of Shaf’s businesses were licensed in Illinois, Shaf was not accredited by the Better Business Burea and earned an F rating.

“It was a complete debacle,” Stornello said. “It affected my and my family. I don’t appreciate it.”

An arrest warrant was issued for Shaf on January 9 and he turned himself into the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on January 22.

WGN-TV reached Shaf by phone and he said the allegations aren’t true, he only got paid for projects he completed and he cares about his clients and his work.

Note: This report has been updated to correctly identify pending Lake County charges. We regret the error.