Previous coverage: In August 2024, the owner of Olympus Pools had his trial set for March 2025, one year after his arrest.

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The man at the center of a Better Call Behnken investigation into hundreds of unfinished pools in multiple Tampa Bay area counties heads to trial Monday on fraud and grand theft charges.

James Staten, owner of Olympus Pools, faces 35 felony charges. The Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution accuses him of abandoning his customers’ pool projects and using $1.3 million of their money for his personal gain.

If found guilty on all 35 counts, Staten faces a minimum of 20 years in prison.

State prosecutors said the case is about greed that led to fraud. Meanwhile, attorneys for Staten argue there was no intent to defraud customers and this is simply a case of poor business and what they call a “civil matter.”

Staten was arrested in August 2023 and has remained in jail, as his attorneys claim he has been unable to meet his more than $1 million bond. The original bond was set at $2.8 million.

Staten is represented by the Office of Criminal Defense Attorney Rick Escobar, who has repeatedly said he believes his client is innocent.

“… What the public needs to understand is that sometimes businesses go belly up and just because a business goes bankrupt and people lose money, that does not make it a crime,” Escobar said in an interview with Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken shortly after Staten’s arrest in 2023.

This case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Charges include aggravated white-collar crime, organized scheme to defraud, 20 counts of grand theft, eight counts of missed application of construction funds, and five counts of contractor fraud.

Better Call Behnken began looking into customers’ complaints nearly four years ago as many complained they were encouraged to pay upfront in exchange for lower prices and faster service, but were left with dangerous holes in their backyards.

Numerous customers also had liens placed on their homes by subcontractors who said Staten failed to pay them for work they completed on the projects.