Botched Bloomington kitchen project leads to charges against remodeler

Kotek could not be reached for comment Monday. If convicted, he faces 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, although he could receive a harsher sentence if he is found to have violated his probation for a 2009 theft-by-swindle conviction.Guthery hired Kotek in April after Kotek Construction popped up in a Google search for granite installers. During their first meeting, Kotek recommended new cabinets and appliances in addition to the granite, but he wasn't pushy,I certainly did not have dry cleaning machine even a slightest idea of what was coming. Guthery said.The next day, he brought samples of what he said were Amish-built cabinets from Indiana and a CAD drawing of the kitchen remodeling plan, she said."He seemed very detail-oriented and very personable, and he wasn't intimidating," Guthery said. 

Guthery paid Kotek $5,100. Kotek promised the project would be completed within two weeks, but six weeks in, Guthery had a bare kitchen.Casler probably never imagined that a version of his device would be used to animate electronic cigarette vaporizer mini ce4 digital files. Behold: The Giphoscope. When the cabinets finally came, they were not the custom-made, Amish cabinets he promised, and they were the wrong size. The granite countertop was also too short and could not be installed.Guthery said she realized she had hired the wrong person when Kotek would not answer her phone calls and a subcontractor put a lien on her house. She had sold all her kitchen appliances, and did not have a sink, because she thought the process would be done quickly.For months, she bought takeout and washed dishes in her bathtub."He kept blaming everyone else," Guthery said. "Then I looked him up in the Minnesota court lookup and I had a small heart attack." 

Kotek "has a history of criminal charges and convictions for issuing worthless checks, wrongfully obtaining unemployment insurance benefits, theft by swindle, child neglect and domestic abuse," the Department of Labor and Industry wrote in its disciplinary action against Kotek after Guthery filed a complaint.Kotek Construction was licensed under someone else's name.In the midst of similar transitions are Michael Cimarusti, the Los Angeles chef and owner of Providence Hordenine and the new Connie and Ted's. "Had the department been aware of Kotek's involvement with the company, it would have sought the denial of the company's license application," according to the enforcement order.For Guthery, who is in the final stages of remodeling her kitchen, the charges give her hope that her ordeal will soon be over.