Men face home repair fraud charges

Two men have been charged with theft and home repair fraud crimes, accused of taking money and not delivering on promises to seal coat a driveway, replace a stone walkway and do other work at a Glen Ellyn-area home.

Allen Costello, 26, of the 4800 block of South Tripp Avenue in Chicago, and Nicholas Wanko, 30, of the 4400 block of Wilson Avenue in Chicago, were each indicted on three charges of aggravated home repair fraud ‒ victim 60 years or older, and two counts of theft, according to DuPage County court records.

Arrest warrants were issued on April 9.

According to the indictments, in late June and early July 2023, the duo took at least $500 to seal coat a driveway on Sunnyside Road in unincorporated Glen Ellyn but did not do it.

They are also accused of taking money to remove a stone walkway and replace it with a concrete one, plus landscaping, but did not do the work.

And they are accused of accepting at least $5,000 to insulate the ceiling of a three-season room and fix a sagging beam ‒ but they didn’t finish the work, and what they did do was done so poorly it needed to be redone, according to the indictments.

The DuPage County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.