Simmons

ELKINS — A Randolph County man who was charged with fraudulent schemes and was sued by the State Attorney General’s Office was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of supervised probation and will have to pay his victims a total of more than $8,000 in restitution.

During a joint restitution and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Charles Blaine Simmons, 54, was ordered by Randolph County Circuit Court Judge Jaymie Godwin Wilfong to pay his victims a total of $8,893 in restitution with all five victims receiving their payments at the same time.

Simmons was also sentenced by Wilfong to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine for one count of fraudulent schemes. He was also sentenced to one year in jail, suspended for five years of supervised probation, as well as another $2,500 fine for a second count of fraudulent schemes. A condition of Simmons’ supervised probation is that he must pay $350 every month until restitution to his five victims is paid in full.

On Jan. 5, Simmons pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of fraudulent schemes. As part of the plea agreement, Simmons will have to pay restitution to the victims as though he had been convicted on all counts of his initial indictment.

Simmons was initially indicted by a Randolph County Grand Jury in October on five counts of felony fraudulent schemes.

According to the four Randolph County criminal complaints filed last year by Deputy B.M. Roy with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, on Oct. 1, 2025, Roy was contacted by the Randolph County Prosecutor’s Office in reference to an investigation that was conducted by the State Attorney General’s Office.

Roy was asked to complete criminal complaints in reference to the findings of the Attorney General’s Office.

The complaints state that, on four separate occasions from July 25, 2024 until May 1, 2024, Simmons was hired and paid to do home improvement contracting work, including ordering and installing furnaces, concrete work and drain repair, for four individuals.

Each person claimed they paid Simmons to do the work, yet he failed to return and finish the work and failed to refund any of the money given to him, the complaints state. In total, Simmons was paid approximately $7,493 by the four individuals.

According to one of the criminal complaints, Simmons does not have a contractor’s license, a plumbing license or an electrician’s license.

During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Simmons was represented by attorney Morris Davis and the state was represented by Randolph County Assistant Prosecutor Colin Henning.

At the hearings start, Davis informed the court that four of Simmons’ five victims had already been granted judgements against Simmons in regards to the amount of restitution each of the four would receive.

One victim, William Armentrout, was not included in the initial judgements. Henning stated that the state believed Armentrout’s restitution from Simmons should total $1,400. Davis countered that he and his client did not believe Simmons was liable and should not have to pay Armentrout restitution. Henning called on Armentrout to testify before the court so his restitution could be determined. 

During his testimony, Armentrout told the court that he had hired Simmons to work on two roofs and, while one roof appeared to have been finished, the second roof was ultimately left incomplete. At one point, Simmons approached Armentrout for $600 and then $800 to pay for more material needed. Armentrout told the court that he paid the money in cash to Simmons, but then he never heard from Simmons again and was unable to contact him after that.

“I basically trusted the guy like a moron,” Armentrout told the court.

Armentrout said that, after he spoke with the West Virginia State Police, he wrote Simmons a letter stating that Simmons had 30 days to complete the work or their contract would be null and void. In cross examination, Davis repeatedly questioned if Armentrout had ever stopped Simmons from coming back and completing the work, to which Armentrout said he did not.

Wilfong ruled that Armentrout was owed $1,400 in restitution from Simmons and issued a judgement so Armentrout would receive his restitution with the other four victims.

Before Simmons was sentenced, Davis asked the court to sentence Simmons to supervised probation, arguing that the court did not have the means to compel Simmons to pay the restitution to the victims unless it was made a condition of supervised probation.

Simmons chose not to address the court, but stated that he hoped for probation.

When Henning addressed the court regarding the state’s stance on Simmons’ sentencing, he admitted that he had been back and forth on this case. Henning stated that he believed probation was the best way to encourage Simmons to pay restitution to the victims, but that he had “huge doubts” that Simmons would pay the restitution at all. Ultimately, Henning recommended that the court sentence Simmons to one year in jail on both counts, but suspend the second sentence in favor of supervised probation to encourage Simmons to work harder and pay the restitution.

Two other victims, as well as a woman who said she had also been defrauded by Simmons in the past, attended the hearing. All three of them addressed the court.

“This is an ongoing thing with him,” Julie Pingley, who said Simmons also defrauded her in 2016, told the court. “Incaceration might be the best idea because it’s not like this is not a habit for him.”

“He’s cheated a lot of people,” Patricia Getchell told the court. “…Charlie isn’t ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul,’ he’s robbing Peter and all the rest of us to pay Charlie. He’s a conman and I’m here because I also feel a responsibility to protect my community.”

“I think he is not a person of a productive society helping us,” Carol Bush told the court. “I think he should be incarcerated.”

Simmons was also sued by the State Attorney General’s Office for allegedly engaging in home improvement contracting services without the required contractor’s license, and for violating numerous provisions of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act since 2006.

According to the lawsuit, six people have reported that they paid Simmons amounts totaling $47,334.46 for work that was “substandard,” for projects that were “abandoned before completion,” or for work that Simmons “never returned to begin after receiving payment.” The lawsuit also states that at least six consumers have obtained judgments in Randolph County Magistrate Court against Simmons, which totaled $16,353.04.

“Simmons has not responded to any complaints filed by the Attorney General, has not responded to any efforts by the Attorney General to secure his voluntary compliance with the WVCCPA and did not contest any of the magistrate court lawsuits,” the lawsuit states. “Upon information and belief, Simmons is continuing to engage in home improvement contracting activities without the required license and engaging in over violations of the WVCCPA, which necessitated the filing of this enforcement action.”

The civil complaint against Simmons lays out six instances where formal complaints about Simmons’ work, or lack thereof, were filed with the Attorney General’s Office. In all instances listed by the lawsuit, work was reportedly not started or not finished, and Simmons allegedly refused to refund any of the money.

Six civil judgements against Simmons are also laid out in the lawsuit. The Randolph County Magistrate Court appeared to side with every one of Simmon’s accusers, awarding them the money they had paid Simmons, along with costs and statutory interest.

In the lawsuit, the state asks the courts to find that Simmons repeatedly and willfully violated the WVCCPA and to assess a civil penalty of up to $5,000 against Simmons for “each such violation.”

The state also asked the courts to make a judgement against Simmons in the amount of $47,334.46 as restitution “for the known aggrieved consumer complaints,” as well as any other additional amount the court determines is appropriate as restitution for Simmons’ consumers. In addition to those fees, the state asked that the courts order Simmons to satisfy all judgments entered against him in Randolph County Magistrate Court.