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Legacy Pools owners, accused of scamming hundreds of homeowners, extradited

Published  March 12, 2025 12:41am EDT
Brevard County
FOX 35 Orlando

The Brief

    • Chad and Kristin Black, owners of Legacy Pools, were arrested for allegedly scamming hundreds of homeowners out of millions through fraudulent pool contracts. 
    • Victims, including Stephen Hobbs, reported the company for years, but law enforcement only took action in 2022. 
    • The couple faces charges that could result in decades of prison time.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A Brevard County couple has been extradited from Arizona, accused of using their pool company to scam hundreds of people out of tens of thousands of dollars each.

What we know:

Chad and Kristin Black, owners of Legacy Pools, were arrested and extradited from Arizona to Florida on fraud charges. Authorities say they scammed hundreds of homeowners across multiple states by taking deposits for pools they never intended to complete. 

The couple allegedly used $2 million of customers' money on personal luxuries, including travel, Disney tickets, and even a pool for their own home, according to investigators.

What we don't know:

It remains unclear why the alleged fraud persisted for so long despite repeated complaints to law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Questions remain about how their financial transactions with Elevation Church were handled and whether further legal action will be taken against other parties involved.

The backstory:

Victims, including Stephen Hobbs, began reporting Legacy Pools years ago, but law enforcement initially dismissed the complaints as civil disputes. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations received 137 complaints but did not act due to an alleged lack of volume at the time. 

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office only launched its investigation in 2022 after a federal request.

'Legacy Pools' owners arrested in AZ in $4m fraud case

FOX 35's Marie Edinger joined FOX 35's Garrett Wymer on FOX 35 News+ to break down her reporting on the years-long investigation on the owners of Legacy Pools, a couple arrested in Arizona, accused of defrauding nearly 300 customers in a $4 million fraud case.

The financial losses extend beyond homeowners, as Brevard County alone lost $48,000 in fraudulent permit fees. Questions remain about what changes will be made to prevent similar scams in the future.

What they're saying:

After years of investigating this company, FOX 35’s Marie Edinger checked back in with the alleged victim who first brought Legacy Pools to our attention, Stephen Hobbs. The two had last talked in February 2023. Now, two years later, his pool is finally finished. But talking about the process of getting here brought him to tears.

"Seeing some justice finally come to not just me, but hundreds of other people —  it's powerful," Hobbs said. "I consider myself a very smart person. It just embarrasses me that I could fall for something like that."

When he first contracted with them in 2022, he said Legacy Pools had positive reviews and a "B" rating from the Better Business Bureau.

"A year later they were an ‘F’ rating, and they had negative reviews all over the place. At that point, I was already in the process. You can't go back and change it," Hobbs explained.

Chad Black had been arrested in Osceola County in 2022 for this, but nothing came of it. The attorney representing Chad Black now is the same one who got the Osceola County charges dismissed.

"We’re pretty confident that’s going to happen in this case," said attorney Dan Eckhart. "There’s all sorts of construction disputes every day."

Eckhart is arguing this is a civil matter. That’s what St. Cloud police told Hobbs in 2022, when he tried to have Black arrested.

"Even though we're trying to explain to them: I consider fraud a crime," said Hobbs.

Hobbs also went to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations. 137 other people reported Legacy Pools to the DBPR too.

"They couldn't really do anything because there weren't enough complaints," Hobbs remembers the DBPR telling him.

He even drove over an hour to go to a public meeting with the Brevard County Commission, begging them to stop issuing permits for Chad and Kristin Black.

"It was wall-to-wall people," Hobbs recalled. "It was pretty passionate out there."

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The Source: This story was written based on information contained in court filings, and statements from Stephen Hobbs, attorney Dan Eckhart, and Brevard County officials.

Brevard CountyCrime and Public Safety