Hattiesburg man pleads guilty, must pay back his defrauded widow in home repair case

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) – A home repair fraud case that began in 2019 is finally coming to an end after the accused contractor pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was ordered to pay restitution to the owner.

Christopher John Lundin was originally arrested in 2019 for one count of home repair fraud in Jones County. The charge was later dropped for false pretense.

According to documents filed in Jones County Circuit Court, the case stems from promised and paid repairs to the home of Ruby Hooks, widow of former Jones County Sheriff Maurice Hooks.

In 2019, Hooks said she paid Lundin more than $32,000 for construction work on her home, but he never completed the work.

Lundin was then registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office under New Wave Construction, LLC. The company has since been dissolved.

Lundin initially pleaded not guilty to the original charges of home repair fraud. However, court documents filed on October 8, 2024 show that he pleaded guilty as part of an agreement to participate in the district attorney’s pretrial intervention program.

Lundin will participate in the program for three years. During this period, he must complete 400 hours of community service under the District Court’s community service program.

The court also ordered Lundin to pay $10,000 in restitution to Hooks as well as $3,977.50 in court costs and fines.

If Lundin commits a legal offense or violates any of the conditions of the program, he could be removed from the program and rearrested for trial.

Hooks filed an agreement to the court order on October 8.

You can read the pretrial intervention order in its entirety here:

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