Lawrence Hartwell Racies and the Hartwell Group

Courtesy Volusia County Jail

BREAKING NEWS

Lawrence Hartwell Racies' fortunes seem to go from bad to worse. He has been incarcerated in the Volusia County Jail for a probation violation charge. In fact, he spent his 46th birthday in the pokie - Happy Birthday, loser!

As if that wasn't bad enough, his wife has filed for a dissolution of their marriage - OUCH!

Lawrence Hartwell Racies (Larry Racies), owner of the Hartwell Group in Deltona, Florida has been posing as a contractor, botching home improvement projects of unsuspecting homeowners and then ending up in litigation for over a decade fifteen years.

This website will not offer any commentary, rather, we hope to bring you an unbiased, objective view of the facts in order for you to make your own decision as to whether to do business with him or not. At least you will be armed with the facts when you make your decision.

What follows on this site is all publicly available information. It is available from the Volusia County Clerk's website (www.clerk.org), the websites for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida, MySpace and others. We have obtained his service records from the United States Department of Defense under the Freedom of Information Act and address his claims of being a "highly decorated and honorably discharged" veteran of the United States Marine Corps (semper fi!)

The photographs contained on this website have been placed in the public domain by Lawrence Hartwell Racies or The Volusia County Sheriff's Office and they are not copyright protected.

We do not intend to slander Mr. Racies nor dissuade you from doing business with him. We only wish to get the truth out.

For example, if we claim he is a wife beater, you can bet that we will have the proof right here on this site. If we claim that he has been criminally prosecuted AND convicted for unlicensed contracting, the evidence will be right here. If we claim that he has failed numerous portions of the Florida contractor's exam, we will have his test scores on this site. We will present court documents of case after case of Racies being enmeshed in our judicial system for everything from weapons and alcohol violations to defrauding homeowners and misrepresenting his background and experience.

YOU will be the judge!

For starters, take a look at a couple of YouTube videos from a few of his unsatisfied customers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcrHtdvOTio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhdHuFIJYJA

These video clips and photos are actual, undoctored examples of his work done in the last couple of years. By the way, BOTH of these projects ended up in litigation.

Litigation?

Lawrence Hartwell Racies of the Hartwell Group is no stranger to that. The public records of the Volusia County Clerk (www.clerk.org) show dozens of records. Try surfing on over there and doing a search on either the last name "Racies" or the company name "Hartwell Group". Here's an easy link for you: www.racies-screwups.com. For an extra measure, do a search on the company name "Remnant Redesigners". Yep - the results there are a part of his trail of destruction, too!

In case you needed some help in finding ALL of his civil litigation in just Volusia County, we've printed it out for you here: Racies Volusia Cases

Guess what? In all of his lawsuits, liens filed and legal threats against his "customers", we cannot find where  he has EVER prevailed in a single one. Of course, he has blamed it on incompetent representation (he's represented himself in quite a few of these cases), lying witnesses, ignorant judges, over zealous prosecutors, etc.

Here are a few pages of judgments, liens and stipulations filed against Lawrence Hartwell Racies:

Judgments, Liens, Foreclosures & Stipulations 

More judgments

They amount to literally tens of thousands of dollars and range from foreclosures, IRS Liens and lawsuits with unsuspecting homeowners. The scary part is that this isn't even all of them!!!!

Criminal cases?

Hoo boy!

Brace yourself.

He's been criminally convicted for  Unlicensed Contracting in Lake County. Volusia County initiated a similar case against him but decided not to prosecute when the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation took it and followed through - more on that later.

Here's the disposition on the Lake County case  - Lake County vs Larry Racies It appears that he pled "No Contest", did a couple of days in the pokie and was fined $250.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement records paint yet another picture of Mr. Racies. In the attached document, it appears that he has been busted for DUI, reckless display of a firearm, aggravated assault, probation violation, failure to appear, battery......  FDLE Rap Sheet

He seems to get around - here's a case in Orange County where he was evidently playing with guns again - Larry playing with guns

AGAIN, WE EMPHASIZE    we are not passing judgment on Lawrence Hartwell Racies (Larry Racies) of The Hartwell Group and now Zee's Construction (Zee's Design). That is for judges, juries and his customers/business prospects. This site is simply objectively presenting information that is already in the public domain - records obtained from public sources and/or placed into the public domain by Mr. Racies himself.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is the agency in Florida responsible for regulating professional services providers and protecting consumers. Included in their jurisdiction are contractors and folks who want to be contractors some day.

You know what that means....

Racies has had more than a few encounters with the DBPR. This link includes the Department's recent actions concerning The Hartwell Group and Larry Racies. Run In's with DBPR You will notice some "cease & desist" orders and items referred to the State Attorney. It seems that when it comes to the licensing folks, Racies is a one man wrecking crew.

Here's a link to the State's web page for a recent case that ended with him being found guilty and fined a couple of thousand dollars - http://www.doah.state.fl.us/internet/search/docket.cfm?CaseNo=07-000781   Take your time reading through this one. There are a lot of documents associated with this case and the actual complaint by the State is interesting reading.

Here are some quotes from the judge who presided:

To repeat, we are not making any of this up - this is all a part of the public record.

Here's another one - The Volusia County Contractor Licensing and Construction Appeals Board busted him, tried him, found him guilty and fined him - CLCA Citation

To his credit, Lawrence Hartwell Racies has made an attempt to legitimize himself by trying to get his Contractor's License in the State of Florida but he just doesn't seem to have the right stuff. He has repeatedly failed various portions of the exam and one might think that perhaps Racies is just in the wrong business. Here are his test results as posted on the DBPR's website:

Failed Exams

We have seen him around the Lake Mary/Heathrow area applying for waiter type jobs. This seems like a step in the right direction. If he lands one of these positions, we might pop in on him and conduct an evaluation of his services.

Is Larry Racies a wifebeater? Click Here 

'Nuff said

It appears that he has been arrested again on February 9, 2009. Here's a posting from the Volusia County Jail:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WS724716 M/W 080863 CTC0901470MMAWS
RACIES,LAWRENCE HARTWELL VCSO/JABH/UNK WK: 1
1661 BAMBOO COURT JDG: GREEN,SHIRLEY A 0000000.00
DELTONA FL 32725 M/BATTERY TOUCH/STRIKE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This Battery charge appears to be related to a recent petition to the court for an injunction for protection on Febraury 11, 2009 by his long suffering family. Sadly, this is filed with the County Clerk's office under "Domestic Violence". His wife's statement is below. One must wonder "what  kind of a man treats his family like this?"

Here are the papers filed with the court - Racies Wifebeating case

That there have been a string of foreclosures, evictions, defaults and judgments is a matter of public record. This history would appear to paint a picture of a man who lusts after money but does not desire to work for it. Taking money from people and not performing the work that earned it is not only only unethical and immoral but often illegal.

At 45 years of age, how does a man continually go back to his mother for money. Is this some sort of past due allowance that he feels she must owe him?

Worse yet, with his father-in-law barely planted, we hear that he has been hitting his sickly, frail mother-in-law up for money. What kind of a man does that? His in-laws have forbidden him from setting foot in their house, yet he expects them to give him tens of thousands of dollars?

What ever happened to the ethic of an honest days pay for an honest days work? Perhaps the world owes him and he should just sit around and do no work but live off of the fruit of other people's labors.

A Titanic Mess

Recently, Lawrence Hartwell Racies was engaged to help move the Titanic exhibit in Orlando. There were (again) quality issues with his workmanship. Fortunately for the exhibits themselves and the owner, Racies was discharged before any real damage occurred. The owner of the exhibit can provide more details if you'd like to stop down there when the move is completed by true professionals.

Racies True Confessions

Well, the boy has finally come clean. Here are a couple of emails that Lawrence Hartwell Racies of The Hartwell Group sent out in late March/early April of 2009:

God is working in my life.

I am greatly convicted that I have sinned against you and my God.

Of course I am convicted about many other sinfull areas in my life as well.

But where you are concerned, I am sure that I have failed to respond to the circumstances of conflict we found ourselves in a way that would honor the admonition of my Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

I committ to you to repent of that sin.

I committ to you to pay you what you say is the amount for which I owe you.

I will begin to send you money in amounts that I cannot predict at this time but will continue sending you money as I am able until it is all paid in full.

Please forgive me although I will never deserve your forgiveness I believe I must ask for it.

Lawrence Racies

Here's another one:


Yes I am serious about my offer to reconcile.

I am humbly asking for your undeserved advise and counsel.

My current circumstances financially are this;

I have about 475.00 to my name.

I am homeless.

I have limited prospects as I have no real capital to market our business.

My wife and children are eating from food stamps and are living on the charity of our church. The church is not willing to pay anything other than bare necessities. Not the mortgage nor any other bills. Not that they should. I am just spelling out the situation.

At the advise of our church, we have sub-leased the Sequoia to avoid having to send it back to the bank at a loss. This is good because it frees us from a 500 a month payment plus the exorbitant gas consumption and high rates to insure it.

The church has bought Nancy a used van to transport the children and given it to her free and clear.

We have recently received the notice of intent to foreclose on the house.
An approximate 1500.00 a month payment some 4 or five months behind.

I have about 1500.00 dollars in legal fees associated with this domestic violence matter.

The incident triggered DCF involvement and this will have associated costs as well.

The list goes on and on as you can imagine.

I am not complaining mind you. I am just pointing out the situation in order to give you enough window to ask for advise.

I am serious when I humbly ask you for advise and counsel.

With all of my heart I wish to reconcile with you and further steer all the crooked areas of my life so as to be a blessing to my family.

Given these circumstances, how much do you feel I should pay you as a first payment?

I feel I should ask because, as you can imagine, if i make a larger than appropriate payment thus leaving my ability to function and move toward providing for my family once again this might be a bad idea.

I would also like to suggest, even though it might be an uncomfortable idea, that I am available to work for you additionally to pay you at what ever rate you wish.

Additionally I would like to reach out to the other past clients I've had conflicts with and offer to make restitution.

I am not privy to contact information with ; the Creswells, Siwarski's, and Ola Jackson. If you have contact information available I would appreciate if you would give it to me.

I would understand if you felt you needed to ask their permission to hand out that information prior to giving it.

Sincerely,

Larry

On the morning of Feb. 8, 2009, Respondent came in to our bathroom and grabbed me by the throat. While holding me thus, he pushed me backward into our closet until I was pushed up against the clothes. He spoke with gritted teeth that he had been wanting to crush my skull for "a long time now". He made several derogatory and demeaning remarks. After he loosened his grasp, I ran out into the home office at which point he gathered all the phones to keep away from me. I headed for the door and he got in front of me, locked it, then put his hand on it to keep me from getting out. Then I managed to run out the garage and down to a neighbor's house. I then saw respondent leave in our car so I ran back to our home and called 911. He was arrested soon after that.

The comment about crushing my skull has been something he has said several times lately. It is for this and a multitude of reasons that I am in fear for my well being and that of the mental and emotional well being of my children. I could write volumes and have many journal entries over the past 15 years of marriage, not to mention two prior arrests for domestic violence.

Later that day he called from jail and said there really was no way I could ever be safe. He started to complain about the state of affairs and I made some comment to which he hung up on me.

Just prior to the morning incident we had been getting ready for church. He decided that since I had not done my work in the house and office, we would not go to church and it was all my fault. He called all the children into the office and told them we weren't going to church and that it was their mother's fault because she did not love them. Then he came out where I was sitting on the couch with one of our 6 year old son and he told him to tell me to "Go away". Be looked at and said, "Mommy, would you please go away?”.

That afternoon I took the children grocery shopping. We came home to a dark house and as we were pulling in the driveway my eldest told me she was afraid daddy was inside waiting for us and she was afraid.

The day before was our daughter's 11th birthday. We had planned a party at a park for 1pm. At 12pm he said the party was cancelled, it was my fault, and he told our daughter this. She was quite upset. He told me to tell her why we weren't going and I said it was because of me. Then he said, “Since I am the patriarch of this family, when your mother drops the ball it is up to me to pick it up and take care of family responsibilities so I will see to it. Let's load up in the car and have your Party”. We got to the park late and guests were there looking for us.

Respondent frequently yells and curses throughout the house. The children have heard every profane word from him. He has told them not listen to me when I tell them something. They are to go to him if I tell them to do something. He has called me profane names in front of the children numerous times. He screams from the office or bedroom and it can be heard throughout the house. He blames me for most of our problems. He is unpredictable, volatile, irascible. Then he can be loving and kind. We never know what to expect. We walk on eggshells. Someone once described a relationship with him is like walking in a mine field.

Right now, we need peace and normalcy. The fear and disappointment of living with him needs to be replaced with healthy functional living. We need time to heal. Lot's of time.

He needs to heal himself and make money. Because we are self-employed, income is uncertain and capricious at best. The economy has brought out remodeling company nearly to a halt. I will be seeking employment as well as assistance from my church and Food Stamps. We share a car and I will need it in order to transport all the children. I hope I can save our home which we are behind in payments.