Case Overview and Verdict

Charles D. ‘Chuck’ Ogden Sr. also known as “Granite Gangster” on social media was found not guilty of all charges by a six-person jury after four-day trial. Ogden Sr. is a 50-year-old former businessman who faced over 30 years of jail time after complaints from customers made their way to state investigators. He was the previous owner of East Coast Countertops & Remodeling which closed down in May of 2022. Facing Cancer Ogden made the decision to take a step back from being the leader of a company and decided to work as a sales employee of his son’s company CeeJay remodeling LLC operating with the fictitious name of East Coast Countertops & Remodeling.

Melanie Cain Complaint

One of the victims in this case is Melanie Cain of Port Orange. The two came into contact after Cain came across one of Ogden’s Facebook posts and contacted him. According to Cain he was immediately responsive, and she was desperate because of her upcoming brain surgery, which led her to hire him without researching the business. She hired Ogden in October of 2022 and planned for work to begin on her home after a mold mitigation company removed portions of the wall. Unfortunately, not long after work began Hurricane Nicole headed towards Florida and brought the work to a pause. After this Cain says her and Ogden exchanged a few messages before he stopped responding which led to her firing them. Following her firing them she went elsewhere for work and that was when she said she realized the work being done in her home required permits. This led her to ask ECC for their contractor’s license and worker’s comp insurance, which they could not provide. Some of Cain’s complaints were that ECC’s work was “substandard and shoddy” and that parts of the work being done required permits that Ogden did not have. Cain hired others to do the work she paid to be done by ECC saying Ogden now owes her $34,200.

Patrick and Melissa Herlehy

The next victims in this case were in a slightly different situation than Cain because most of their work had been done along with 90% of their bill being paid. Patrick and Melissa Herlehy said when they met Ogden he was “so charismatic” and that they would have never thought he would be lying to them. They also said they were depressed, grieving the loss of their son and desperate from damage to their home by Ian, that they failed to do deep research on Ogden and ECC. By the end of their business relationship the couple filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation after receiving poor work from the company. Patrick Herlehy said ECC used the incorrect screws when attaching cabinets and it almost caused his wife to be electrocuted. The incident he is referring to is when his wife Melissa Herlehy went to plug in a coffeemaker after ECC had worked on their new kitchen and a bolt of electricity shot out of the wall. Following this incident the family decided it was best to stop ECC from working in their home and seek help elsewhere.

Tamara Rohring

Ogden’s business relationship also went sour with disabled Edgewater veteran Tamara Rohring who says she lost $25,000. Rohring posted on an Edgewater community Facebook page seeking help in which Ogden responded, she saw some people from the company working on other homes in her neighborhood and that led her to the assumption that he “must be OK”. Their first agreement was that ECC would remove all her kitchen and bathroom countertops so that the walls underneath could be removed and reinstalled. After talking with Ogden, they agreed that ECC would remove all the home damaged drywall, insulation, and rebuild cabinets all for $73,000. Still, she only made a payment of $25,000 just for the cabinet removal which Rohring said ECC did not do. This led Rohring to make a criminal complaint against Ogden and ECC, saying she felt like a criminal proceeding was her only hope.

Billy Joe Farek

Billy Joe Farek, a 75-year-old veteran, saw Ogden driving a truck with ECC’s logo on it. His home had also flooded during hurricane Ian. After meeting with Ogden and signing a contract, the company began working on his home in October 2022. Farek was not satisfied with the work being done, things like missing door replacements, the incorrectly shaped sink and no backsplash were problems he highlighted. However, his biggest problem was Brett Russo and his work. Brett Russo is an unlicensed electrician who made many mistakes when working on Farek’s home. From holes in the ceiling to an improperly placed thermostat Russo’s work was unsatisfactory. Following this Farek made a complaint to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation leading the State’s Attorney Office to request Edgewater police to investigate. Inmate Brett Russo was interviewed on March 6, who stated that he worked as Ogden’s handyman and electrician in 2022.

Robert Gorry

The last and oldest victim Robert Gorry who is a 90-year-old veteran paid East Coast Countertops & Remodeling $131,592 for work to be done on his home. Although work did get done Gorry says only an estimated $50,000 or $60,000 worth of work was done on his home and labeled most of the work as “incorrect or shoddy”.  As a result, Gorry had to pay other companies to come complete and redo the work East Coast Countertops & Remodeling had done or failed to do. Overall, it was said that he lost approximately $105,000 dealing with Ogden and ECC.

Arrest and Charges

On December 22, 2022, Charles D. Chuck’ Ogden was arrested for the first time regarding this case. Melanie Cain’s complaint to the Port Orange police department sparked this. At that point he was only charged with a single count of contracting without a license. These charges were soon raised as the other client’s complaints were investigated. Ogden went from being charged with one crime to being charged with 7 felonies, he was now facing over 30 years of prison time if convicted.

Related Lawsuits

Ogden sued the city of Port Orange following the new charges, claiming one of the charges he was facing - engaging in a contracting business without certification during an emergency- was based on a mistake made by Detective Lance Morris. He felt the city failed to properly oversee its employees. That wasn’t the only lawsuit to come out of this case. Lawsuits between the Ogden family and victims also took place. Jessica Ogden lost a libel lawsuit against Melanie Cain after a six-person jury did not find that Cain in social-media posts caused Jessica or her business any harm.

Trial Proceedings

Initially Ogden was looking to work out a deal with the State Attorney’s Office but after nothing struck Judge Kathleen Weston set for the trail to start on June 17th, 2025. Ogden’s Attorney John Terhune and Judge Weston agreed that there should be a larger jury for this case because of how much media coverage it had and how long the case had been, it was likely many people in the area had learned about it. A normal jury panel is 30 people, but Weston agreed to request at least 50. The trial of Charles D. “Chuck” Ogden began July 29th. The state was represented by Assistant State Attorney Kevin Sullivan while Ogden was represented by attorneys Aaron Delgado and John Terhune.

Opening Statements

Sullivan started his opening statement by introducing the jury to the four families that were victims of this case: Melanie Cain, Melissa and Patrick Herlehy, Tamara Rohring, and Robert Gorry. He then went to explain his view of the situation saying that Ogden would collect money and often not complete the work. The defense, however, contended that Ogden wasn’t the owner of the business, which Sullivan replied he would prove that Ogden made the victims feel otherwise. In the defense opening statement Terhune argued that Ogden was working for a business that was owned by his son, Charles Ogden Jr., that operated under the fictitious name of the previous business owned by Ogden Sr, East Coast Countertops & Remodeling. Terhune also said that the customers were going through hurricane fatigue, and it all boils down to people who weren’t happy with the work they received.

He then went on to highlight some aspects of the contract that three of the four victims signed, pointing out things like the contract saying ECC would operate at their own pace meaning there wasn’t a guaranteed finish date. The lack of supplies was highlighted as well; he brought attention to how scarce materials were during that time because it was hurricane season and two storms had left many Floridians in need of home improvement.

Witness Testimony

Both Melissa and Patrick Herlehy were called up to the witness stand, Patrick first and Melssia directly after. Melissa testified that she set up a meeting at East Coast’s showroom where she met with Jessica Ogden. She said Chuck Ogden introduced himself to her as the owner and took over the conversation. Eventually he followed her to her home where they discussed issues and signed a contract for the work that needed to be done, this would cost her about $48,000.

Sullivan asked Melissa about some details of the contract, specifically the part where it says that ECC will not do any electric or plumbing work. Mrs. Herlehy says when Ogden offered the electrical, she didn’t bring up the contract and say “No, you can’t do that. Your contract says you can’t” but because he said he could, and it was a good price she was satisfied. She was then asked if she inquired about worker’s qualifications, she testified that he told her he was a journeyman, which was enough for her. Melissa said she began to lose confidence in ECC and developed concerns for her family’s safety after examining some of the work done by the company. “The drywall being backwards was going to create a mold issue, which it did” Melissa said. “And then the other big thing was a 3-inch cabinet screw that was put through a very small outlet” this being the cause of the electricity shooting out of the wall at her. Melissa says this is what led them to fire Ogden and although he tried to fix it, she could not let him back into the house with good conscience. She said her reading an insurance fraud brochure led her to filing a complaint against Ogden in the following year.

The Jury also heard from 90-year-old Robert Gorry. Gorry says after Hurricane Ian his home was “unlivable” and as a result Ogden moved him and his wife into a condominium he owned free of charge for one month while his home was being worked on. Gorry’s problem started because he was not happy with the time it was taking for his home to get finished and said he paid $2,000 to live in the condo for a second month because his home still was unlivable. “Everything was a little bit done in every room, but none complete.” Gorry testified. He said he lost faith in Chuck when Gorry was asked about the day he fired ECC, by attorney John Terhune. 

Tamara Rohring was another victim who testified during the trial. Ms. Rohring said Ian left 13 inches of floodwater and sewage backup in her home. Ogden and Rohring made a plan to repair her home which came out to $74,000 but the contract was never signed. When asked by defense attorney Aaron Delgado if Ogden’s team had “taken a leap of faith” by working on her home without the contract being signed Tamara replied, “I guess so”. Assistant State Attorney Mizelle led the jury through photos of Rohring’s home after Ogden’s team had begun working on her home. During this time Rohring said, “If you see the black marks, that’s where they took a crowbar and pried the stainless steel undermounting off of the island piece.” Which was some of the damaged things she said led her to complain to Ogden. Rohring said ECC had stopped coming to her home and by April 2023, she wrote Charles Ogden asking for her $25,000 back. 

Brett Russo, the unlicensed electrician said to be sent to homes by Ogden testified he didn’t recall whether the homeowners or Ogden oversaw the job, and said he wasn’t sure if he was paid for the job after being asked by Sullivan who was in charge of paying him. Russo clarified that he never saw a contractor’s license, and that Ogden never told him he was a contractor, but he did believe that Ogden was a contractor. When asked why he said, “The company logos on the truck, um, the job. The stuff we done in the job. Just the remodeling, the counters, the drywall, the electrical, the plumbing, stuff like that.”. Melanie Cain, Lance Morris, and Jessica Ogden were some of the other witnesses called to testify in this trial, Ogden being the only witness called by the defense.

Closing Arguments and Verdict

The closing arguments of the attorneys in this trial were presented differently to say the least. Ogden’s Attorney Aaron Delgado and his associate John Terhune were both confident and forceful, rarely pausing and painting a simple picture for the jury. Sullivan on the other hand attempted to simplify his theories of how Ogden ran his business. Ogden was more than satisfied with their work. He made a testimonial in front of the courthouse saying “They did an amazing job. If you ever need any law or any type of criminal, go see Aaron Delgado and Associates” with a smile. Sullivan on the other hand attempted to simplify his theories of how Ogden ran his business, once saying “It’s get in quick, get out. Get the money,”. Sullivan’s closing argument also had long pauses, sometimes 20 seconds other times 70 seconds, all while he sorted through piles of evidence at one point saying, “Lot of papers,”. Still, he referenced ways victims had run into problems with East Coast Countertops and Remodeling. He brought light to the work done by ECC that caused victims to spend more money and would have caused more damage if it hadn’t been discovered at the time it did.