Fresno restaurateur’s dream backyard became a nightmare. He blames former Valley mayor

A Fresno restaurateur is taking the former mayor of Sanger to court, alleging that his vision of a dream backyard ended up a nightmare of broken plumbing and collapsed concrete that leaves him out about $200,000.

In the lawsuit, Vatche Moukhtarian and his wife, Anna, say that Joshua Mitchell of JDM Landscape agreed to remodel the Moukhtarians’ backyard and that he was an expert in the field. Instead, the couple says, Mitchell built structures that were not up to code and made false statements about the work.

In addition, Moukhtarian said Mitchell sent a bogus building inspector holding a clipboard and a pencil to the work site to sign off on the construction.

Moukhtarian is seeking $200,000 with interest and punitive damages for breach of contract, fraud, and negligence.

Moukhtarian is the owner of Cracked Pepper Bistro in northwest Fresno. Mitchell served as mayor of Sanger from 2012 to 2015. He resigned after paying a $7,000 fine for election law violations that included not reporting campaign contributions in a timely manner, according to the state Fair Political Practices Commission.

In 2019, the commission assessed him another $6,000 fine for voting on an issue involving a developer with whom he had a financial interest, and not reporting the conflict. That vote took place in 2014.

MItchell declined to comment on the allegations and referred The Bee to attorney Jeremy M. Dobbins. Said Dobbins: “We look forward to our day in court. Mr. Moukhtarian is alleging things that are not true.”

The Contractors State License Board, which oversees contractors in California, notes multiple violations by JDM Landscape on its website, including “Departed from trade standards,” “exceeded contract amount,” and “no written contract provided.”

Under California law, contractors must post a bond to protect consumers, but Moukhtarian said in an interview with The Bee that the bond in this case was just $15,000, and he had to share the money with another family that also went after JDM Landscaping for flawed work.

“He takes shortcuts,” Moukhtarian said of Mitchell. “If he would have spent 20 percent more effort, I would be his biggest cheerleader.”

Collapsed pizza oven, bogus inspector

Among the shortcomings Moukhtarian cited was a pizza oven that collapsed because of slipshod construction, as did a countertop, a fireplace that did not draw smoke away from the patio, a miswired electrical system, drainage pipes that were not connected, and paving stones that were not put down correctly.

In an interview with The Bee, Moukhtarian said some of his customers recommended he hire Mitchell for the work on his backyard, and that he looked good on social media sites. But Moukhtarian said some of the posted work Mitchell claimed to have done was “clip art,” taken from other websites.

He vowed to be much more careful verifying the legitimacy of the next contractor that he hires.

Moukhtarian said that discussions with Mitchell about the flawed project broke down after the bogus inspector showed up. He said he called the city to check if the man with the clipboard was legit and was told no one from the city in fact went to the Moukhtarians’ home.

After that, Mitchell stopped communicating, said Moukhtarian.

“We (couldn’t) live in the dumpsite that he left us.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 8:36 AM.