CHARLOTTE — A jury, on Tuesday, found York County home builder, Christian Novellino, guilty.
Action 9 started investigating Novellino in 2022, speaking with eight alleged victims.
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They say they gave Novellino and his businesses -- including Constructing Up — hundreds of thousands of dollars combined, that he was supposed to build their dream houses, but that he didn’t. In some cases, the builder started work, but didn’t finish.
Officers arrested the contractor a year later, charging him with multiple felonies.
In court, prosecutors called Novellino a “crook,” “thief,” and “con man.” He kept his business going by robbing from Peter to pay Paul," assistant solicitor Matthew Hogge told jurors. “He was desperate and reckless. He didn’t care about the families that he left. He didn’t care that he had stolen all this money. He didn’t care about the carnage.”
Hogge also said, “And he was willing to lie, cheat, and steal to keep his cash cow, Constructing Up, going.”
But Novellino’s lawyers claimed he was just a bad businessman, not a criminal.
“Because, perhaps, he is somebody who should not have been running a business of the magnitude that he was running, maybe he should have walked away, but that’s part of being a bad businessman,” attorney Devon Nielson told the jury. “Maybe he took on too many projects. Maybe he made some mistakes.”
He added, “Problems happen. Projects fall apart ... It’s not unheard of in the construction business.”
Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Novellino guilty of breach of trust and obtaining property under false pretenses.
“All this man does is start these companies up, lie to people, take their money, spend it on whatever he wants to spend it on, wait until it crashes and burns,” Solicitor Kevin Brackett told the judge during the sentencing phase.
“Very emotional. It’s been really, really hard for all these years,” customer Sylvie Carey told Action 9’s Jason Stoogenke. “It’s just wonderful to be vindicated and for him to pay for his crimes.”
“Hopefully, he won’t be able to hurt any more people,” customer Jennifer Wallace said.
“It’s all we get is justice. We’re not going to get our money back,” customer Vernon Nexsen added. “Doesn’t make up for the money, but the justice is nice.”
The judge sentenced Novellino to 20 years behind bars, minus the 703 days he’s already served. But the prosecution isn’t done yet. They plan to try him on other cases. If they win, that would be three convictions. In South Carolina, that could mean life without parole.
VIDEO: Customers aren’t only ones upset with York County builder facing charges
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