Criminal charges filed against Sarasota County business owner

The owner of a Sarasota window and door company that filed for bankruptcy and went out of business last year was arrested Aug. 28 in Sarasota County.

Todd Hoch, 47, of Nokomis, who owned Sash & Sill, was charged with the following, according to online arrest records:

• 17 counts of larceny: contractor failing to refund excess value of work $1,000 to $20,000
• Five counts of embezzlement: misappropriating construction funds of at least $100,000
• Five counts of larceny: contractor failing to refund excess value of work $20,000 to $200,000, according to arrest records.

The arrest in Sarasota County comes days after Hoch was arraigned in Charlotte County on two felony charges linked to accepting money for jobs that were not completed. He has pleaded not guilty.

Hoch is being held without bond in Sarasota County on the new charges, according to arrest records, which show his arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 26.

The arrest in Sarasota County comes after customers filed dozens of complaints with authorities from the local to state level about Sash & Sill, which clients said accepted tens of thousands of dollars in deposits for jobs that were not completed.

In August 2024, Hoch filed for personal bankruptcy and Sash & Sill filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy. That month, the Sarasota County General Contractors Licensing and Examining Board also found Hoch guilty of fraud, abandonment and taking money for construction but not applying for a permit or starting work, following a complaint from a homeowner who deposited $19,560 for windows and doors that were not received. The penalty was Hoch not being allowed to pull permits in Sarasota County.

Part of the challenge was a cash-flow issue, Hoch said last year at the board hearing. Usually, he had been able to pay for windows and doors from distributors after jobs were complete. But in 2024, he said: “We had to pay in full for new material” ahead of time, which meant he had to use money from new jobs to pay for materials for older orders.

"I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the customers of Sash & Sill whose projects were not completed," Hoch said in a prepared statement issued to the Business Observer last August after the board hearing in Sarasota County. "It has been the most difficult situation that I have ever gone through."