The owner of a pool business who faces criminal charges after an NBC10 Boston Investigation followed an alleged trail of unfinished projects across Massachusetts has been arrested, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday, several months after a grand jury returned an indictment against him.
The NBC10 Boston Investigators uncovered an alleged path of destruction tied to Steve Docchio, who owns a swimming pool construction company. Instead of pools and other expensive home improvement projects, the investigation detailed how homeowners were left with giant holes in their backyards and broken promises.
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The pattern of unfinished projects sparked a Plymouth County grand jury investigation, which resulted in a 17-count indictment against Steve Docchio. The charges include larceny, home improvement contractor violations, tax evasion, money laundering, and pandemic unemployment fraud.
In a lengthy bail argument, Plymouth County prosecutor Alex Zane described Docchio as a flight risk because of his history of skipping court dates and recent travel out of the country.
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"So you couple all the orders that he ignored with the fact that there's intense public scrutiny because of NBC10 dedicating all this coverage to him," Zane said. "Yet he continues to go out there, continues to take money from unsuspecting homeowners, and dupe them."
Even after the indictment and having his home improvement contractor registration revoked, Zane said Docchio recently took advantage of an elderly couple in Wareham.
According to town permit paperwork reviewed by the NBC10 Boston Investigators, Docchio changed the first letter of his last name, going by "Steve Bocchio" to avoid detection.
Zane said the Wareham couple fired Docchio last month after a family members saw one of the NBC10 Boston stories.
In court on Tuesday, Docchio pleaded not guilty to the charges before growing frustrated with remaining silent.
The judge instructed Docchio to speak with attorney, but Docchio responded that he was firing his public defender and wanted to be appointed new counsel.
He then launched criticism at the NBC10 Boston coverage and the grand jury probe.
"This is all brought up on lies and allegations by Mr. Media," Docchio said. "This prosecutor, all his storytelling is just an opera. He's got a lot of proving to do. No money was taken."
The office of Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said Docchio skipped out after the indictment and an arrest warrant were issued.
Cruz, who spoke with NBC10 Boston after the indictment was unsealed, said it can be hard to hold bad contractors accountable—a frequent complaint lodged by customers during our ongoing investigative series—because the law requires prosecutors to prove they never intended to finish a job after accepting payments.
The indictment accuses Docchio of landing contracts by giving customers unrealistic deadlines during the pandemic, when demand for this kind of home improvement work was high. Several customers told us the contractor promised they’d be “swimming by the 4th of July” when other companies had waiting lists of more than a year.
Once the contract had been signed, customers said they later discovered pool equipment and project supplies were never ordered months after they’d written the checks.
The indictment estimates the amount of stolen funds at $500,000.
In addition to charges related to the abandoned home projects, the indictment accuses Docchio of tax evasion for not reporting any earned income in 2019, 2020 and 2021 while cashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from customers.
During that period, court documents allege Docchio also received $85,000 of government assistance, including pandemic unemployment benefits.
Homeowners listed in court documents previously shared their nightmare projects with the NBC10 Investigators. Even though the cases occurred in several different jurisdictions, they will be grouped and prosecuted in Plymouth County.
The grand jury reviewed the NBC10 interview with Docchio during its investigation, when the contractor told us customers shared the blame for all the failed projects. During that exchange, Docchio also downplayed the financial and emotional toll of having a home construction project drag on with no end in sight.
After unsealing the indictment, authorities could not immediately locate Docchio, despite several visits to the address he was last seen in Plymouth.
Docchio was held on $50,000 cash bail. If he posts that amount, the conditions of his release include GPS home confinement, surrendering his passport, and not working any indoor or outdoor home construction.
He is due back in court on August 23 and will be appointed a new attorney.
Ryan Kath can be reached at ryan.kath@nbcuni.com. You can follow him on Twitter or connect on Facebook.
