Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
One of the victims of a building contractor accused of fraud says it has been “a very long road” in the search for justice.
Tracy Jones said she was initially shocked when she first heard RCMP were looking to arrest Jason Pacik on charges of fraud, but eventually began to feel empowered and hopeful.
“I felt that what I had experienced, it was being validated,” she said.
Jones said she contracted Pacik in 2019 to build a prefabricated home on an acreage property she owns. She put down a large payment to buy the materials for the prefabricated building, which would then be put together on site.
Jones said she couldn’t get in contact with Pacik after providing her payment, and he was not meeting the deadlines he was supposed to when it came to construction.
Police allege it was a pattern of behaviour in which Pacik took money from people with the promise that he would build structures that were never actually built.
Saskatchewan RCMP announced on Nov. 26 that Pacik, 42 had been arrested and charged with one count of fraud under $5,000 and one count of fraud over $5,000. RCMP said he was released on conditions pending his next court appearance, which is set for January.
According to RCMP, the investigation began in January 2024 after police received complaints about Pacik’s business, Prairie Timber Group Limited.
Jones said she was expecting it to be an exciting new time in her life.
“It turned into an excruciating time in my life,” she said.
Originally, Jones’s home was set to be completed in July 2019. She said eventually, Pacik showed up to her site unannounced in January 2020 and put up some of the structure.
But what he built wasn’t satisfactory.
“Two walls, they didn’t even come together, there was a space,” she said.
Yvonne Kildaw came into contact with Pacik when she was looking to have a bunkhouse built. She saw an online advertisement for his business and also got a positive reference from someone who he built a shed for.
Kildaw even travelled to his office south of Saskatoon where he gave a power-point presentation.
“There was no question it looked legit,” she said.
Eventually, Kildaw gave Pacik a $3,500 deposit. Afterward, she said Pacik was hard to reach.
Kildaw said Pacik told her he could deliver the building, but backed out at the last minute because he had a “family emergency.”
“He had a lot of family emergencies,” she noted.
Kildaw said she decided to ask for her deposit back and was provided forms that she filled out. Her money never got returned.
She initially went through small claims court to try to recoup her money. She found other people already had judgements against Pacik that hadn’t been paid.
Kildaw and Jones are part of a group of people who connected online after coming into contact with Pacik and his business. Their allegations have not yet been tested in court.
Jones said as they got in touch with more people they were able to get a better idea of how Pacik operated. Specifically, by taking money from new customers to try to finish projects for previous clients.
“You put all these stories together and the picture is just not a pretty scene,” she said.
Staff Sgt. Billy Groenen, who oversees the unit tasked with investigating Pacik, said investigators laid charges for multiple alleged offences in Saskatchewan along with two complaints out of British Columbia.
Groenen said the investigation was considered to be “complex” because of the numerous complaints.
“They had to co-ordinate all those investigations and kind of wrap them up into one global investigation,” he said.
Since Pacik was based in Saskatchewan at the time he is alleged to have committed fraud against people in B.C., those charges are being dealt with in Saskatchewan.
Groenen said fraud investigations like this one tend to involve police making submissions to financial institutions to get documents which trace fraudulently obtained funds.
He said drafting orders to get documents is a lengthy process. Once the documents are produced, investigators need time to go through them.
“All those things take time to process, and they often end up very large files as far as documents go,” he said.
Groenen said the investigation into Pacik is ongoing.
