While legal cases against Key West’s former building official, Raj Ramsingh, wind their way through the court system, city officials are working to right Ramsingh’s alleged wrongs.
He is accused of organized fraud for operating his own construction company, Strykker-Avery Homes, and working on construction projects that required city building permits while he was employed full time as the city’s chief building official. A separate felony charge accuses Ramsingh of falsifying building permits and related files to allow work projects to take place, sometimes despite previous denials by the city’s planning department.
“The defendant’s construction company was not allowed to perform any construction work within the city limits of Key West,” states a “statement of particulars” filed by the prosecutor’s office on May 21. “The defendant/his construction company received checks and/or wire transfers for the work on projects/permits, which were deposited into Strykker-Avery Homes’ bank account, which is/was a bank account of the defendant’s. The defendant received …approximately $1.9 million in gross revenue” for work at the following properties: 902 Thomas St., 1101 Simonton St., 2116 Fogarty Ave., 1009 17th Terrace and 1301 United St.
Additional construction work and questionable permitting took place at Raj Ramsingh’s own property at 2827 Harris Ave.
Ramsingh currently has a pre-trial conference scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday, July 31. A trial date of Aug. 18 has been set, but is likely to be postponed, which is typical in felony cases.
His initial arrest — the first of three, all related to the same city actions — occurred on April 15, when he was indicted with his brother, Ron Ramsingh, the former city attorney and Jim Young, the city’s former code compliance director, who retired days after his indictment and arrest. Ron Ramsingh, the former city attorney, was terminated without cause in April and walked away with a $221,000 payout from the city.
Raj Ramsingh initially was placed on paid administrative leave, then indefinite, unpaid leave while the city investigated the charges against him for specific violations of city policy. He was officially fired from the city of Key West in June.
Meanwhile, several homeowners have received letters from the city of Key West, notifying them of the city’s “intent to pursue corrective action” to fix problematic or fraudulently issued building permits for construction work that took place at their properties under Raj Ramsingh’s tenure as chief building official.
The city’s acting chief building official Ron Wampler has been conducting site visits and permit reviews for approximately 30 properties. Necessary corrective actions for the property owners will include obtaining proper building permits and final inspections for work that was completed.
It is unclear who will have to pay for the re-permitting process, and whether the homeowners are responsible for actions, or lack thereof, taken by a former city employee, or if Raj Ramsingh could be on the hook for the re-permitting and inspection costs.
One such homeowner, Tamara Santiago Redhead, paid more than $625,000 to Strykker-Avery Homes, to renovate a historic family home she inherited from her mother at 1101 Simonton St., according to text messages she exchanged with Raj Ramsingh throughout the renovation process that are now part of the court records in Ramsingh’s case.
Santiago Redhead told “I really appreciate you researching and reporting how homeowners have been innocently dragged into (this). I have been so upset to rehash the nightmare this renovation caused me and my family,” she wrote in a text message. “To now have received a letter from the City regarding the permits is stressful to say the least. I am currently working on resolving what the City letter says. I am a 62-year-old retired clinician, not a contractor. Luckily all the subcontractors that I met during the renovation were polite and I believe I will be able to resolve this.
“I don’t know yet how much the repermitting will cost. I just want to resolve this so all city rules are followed. This is an albatross on my neck. I can’t speak for other homeowners, but imagine they have also been shocked and burdened. I imagine lawyers will argue about who pays or does not pay. I am sure I already paid the contractor for permits.”
The letter Santiago Redhead received from the city on June 27 states, “the following building permit applications and scope of work were applied for and issued without property documentation and plan review….” The letter then lists four different permits for exterior renovations, roofing, plumbing and electrical and instructs, “Please rre-submit plans and complete application documents due to apparent fraudulent plan review entries. Building, mechanical, and electrical plans and permit applications were only partial or not submitted at all. These plans were never reviewed by several city departments.”
The letter also states, “The primary building permit has a record of one partial inspection taking place/ This inspection does not contain any detail or photographs. Licensed building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractors must submit applications and file affidavits that their licensed scope of the construction has been safely installed.”
The other letters sent out by the city contain similar language, based on various problems with permits and inspections, but given the extent of the $625,000 in renovations that were completed at 1101 Simonton St., Santiago Redhead’s letter may require the most comprehensive corrective actions, not including Raj Ramsingh’s own property at 2827 Harris Ave., which went from a two-bedroom cottage to a five-bedroom, five-bath, “3,062-square-foot masterpiece” that is currently on the market for $2.15 million, according to Zillow.
