A procession of victims told the judge Wednesday it was past time to offer some restitution: Heather and Bruce Alford needed to go to prison.
The Alfords entered pleas in Columbia County Superior Court to 27 counts of theft. Depending on which side is adding up the damage, they owed $662,362 or $327,725 for the pools they were paid to install.
Chief Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. said he would determine the restitution amount at another hearing. But Wednesday, Sept. 21, he sentenced each Alford to 15 years in prison followed by 25 years on probation.
The Alfords started their own business in Grovetown in April 2017, Georgia-Lina Pools and Landscaping, expanding on the lawn and sprinkler business Bruce Alford started after his career in the Army. By July 2018, a judge’s order shut it down after dozens of customers reported their suspicions not only of shoddy and dangerous work but outright theft.
A Columbia County grand jury indicted the Alfords last year.
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Heather and Bruce Alford both apologized Wednesday, pleading for understanding that they got in over their heads in the pool business and never intended to leave their customers in financial distress. The judge allowed them to enter Alford pleas, which means they did not admit guilt but acknowledge the sufficiency of the evidence for conviction.
They also lashed out at “the media.” Local television station WRDW has reported extensively on the Alfords and their victims, and those portraying them as criminals. They had to declare bankruptcy, but within a year they should have those debts paid and can double restitution payments to their former customers, their attorney Robert Homlar said.
The victims who spoke during Wednesday’s hearing weren’t having any of that.
Paul Morris said he would be quick: they plead guilty, and they are criminals. Heather Alford asked him to drop the charges, and they would give him his money back, Morris said. He doesn’t believe they have any intention of paying their debts.
Morris paid $30,000 down to give his wife who suffered from advanced Parkinson’s disease a place she could enjoy with her limited physical ability. After he had paid the Alfords over $66,000, Bruce Alford came back to say he just needed another $2,500 for a pump, and he would finish the job, Morris said. He came for the check and stopped on Morris’ back porch to share a prayer.
“He prayed because he just pulled (more money) out of another sucker,” Morris said.
William Bonsack paid the Alfords in full. After 39 years in law enforcement, he thought he could trust someone who gave in service to others, a wounded military veteran. After his daughter had been through brain and spinal surgery, he was told water therapy would be good for her.
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“As a parent you would do anything for your child,” he said, especially after seeing what she had been through. He worked overtime, saved every cent for a pool installation. Every day he sees the disaster in his backyard, he said.
The Alfords stole his money but they also took a dream he wanted for his child. “You stole that from her Bruce,” Bonsack told Alford.
Lauren Pearson told the judge when she and her family met the Alfords, she thought they had made good friends. It was a $50,000 nightmare. Her daughter fell into the hole Alford dug in their backyard. She needed stitches on her face and when they told Alford and pleaded with him to finish the job, they got nothing. When they had to pay someone else to finish the job, they learned the plumbing had been installed wrong and that the suction could have pulled a child to the bottom where they could have drown, Pearson said.
“The money’s over now. I want them in jail,” she said.
At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, that’s where the Alfords were taken by sheriff’s deputies. They will be transferred to state prisons soon.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
