Southern Indiana pool company owner to be sentenced Monday in Clark County

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The owner of a southern Indiana pool company will be sentenced Monday morning, following a guilty plea.

Cameron Reas, the owner of Clark County-based RPM Pools, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft.

Allen Chrisman hired Reas to build a pool in the backyard of his Sellersburg home. Now Chrisman is out nearly $48,000.

Chrisman said Reas came out and provided a bid for the pool, and explained given it was during COVID, there was a backlog.

"Wrote a check for the first deposit, then he came in and said the pool was coming in and needed another check for the equipment," Chrisman said. "Then that date came and passed and then from there reached out to social media, come to find out that we weren't the only victim."

To pay back the loan taken to pay for a pool he never got, Chrisman said his family decided to sell their home.

“I specifically bought that house to put the pool in, sold the house so right off the top of selling the house had to take $50,000, close to 50,000, the equity, to pay off that loan because I only had two choices: either pay the loan off or deal with it for 20 years knowing that I had no pool," Chrisman said.

Reas faces a similar charge in Floyd County, however, according to court documents that case is expected to appear before a jury in March.

In Clark County, Reas will be sentenced Monday, Jan. 8 at 9 a.m.

Chrisman said he is unsure if he will attend in person, but did provide a statement to be read when a judge considers sentencing Reas.

"I spent 21 years in the Army, three different deployments, missed birthdays, holidays with kids to try to save that type of money and kind of have that lifestyle to put in a pool," Chrisman said. "He just kind of skipped to the front of the line, missed all that sacrifice and work... So that that's that kind of is a hard pill to swallow."

Chrisman hopes that Reas is held accountable, and others know to be weary of similar pool scams.

(Editor's note: The focus of this investigation is RPM Pools, based in Clark County, Indiana, and is not affiliated with RPM Construction and Pools LLC based in Evansville, Indiana.)

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