News

Arrest warrant issued for contractor KIRO 7 warned about

There’s now even more reason to avoid hiring a contractor KIRO 7 first warned you about months ago.

An arrest warrant was issued today for Buffy Campbell, for contracting without a license.

Campbell was supposed to appear in Kitsap District Court today on the misdemeanor charge, but was a no-show: a problem Campbell’s clients and Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy have experienced before.

The charge is the result of a botched job KIRO 7 first revealed in May of 2011.  George and Pam Walker hired Campbell to paint both the inside and outside of their Bainbridge Island home.  They wrote her a check for $5,526.68 to get the $15,000 job started.  But the Walkers, and the court documents filed by the Washington State Attorney General's office reveal Campbell never even started to paint.

Consumer Investigators also learned, Campbell's contracting license had been suspended years earlier, something George Walker didn’t know before he hired her.  He told Clancy last year, “I said, Buffy, you lied to me, I thought you were bonded.  I thought you were insured.  I thought you were all those things you said you were.”

What Campbell is tonight; wanted.

She's also slippery.  Despite agreeing to meet with Consumer Investigators multiple times last year to give us her side of the story, Buffy Campbell never showed; like she never showed in court today.

Shari Purves-Reiter of the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries told Clancy last year that Campbell has a long history of violations, and multiple citations with the agency for working without a contractor’s license: “She knows very well that she’s breaking the law.  It’s not her first time at the rodeo.”

For Clancy's original report: Unlicensed Contractor Draws Attention of L&I

For Probable Cause documents: Campbell's Probable Cause documents

To check whether a contractor is licensed and bonded before YOU hire: Hiring a Contractor