A former heating and air conditioning contractor has been fined $1.2 million in civil penalties for an ongoing conspiracy to evade state contracting law, according to the Arizona Registrar of Contractors.

An administrative law judge fined Ronald Dew, 59, of Tempe for nearly 500 violations of state law involving several heating and air conditioning companies. 

After Dew contested the citation, a hearing at the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings was held in Feb. 2016. 

Administrative Law Judge Dorinda Lang ruled March 14.

The Registrar of Contractors investigated Dew on multiple occasions reaching back to when he was listed as the qualifying party for Abode Air LLC from November 2009 to September 2011. 

During that time, the Registrar of Contractors received 142 complaints against the company, which resulted in 46 revocations of the license and a $14,000 payout from the Arizona Registrar of Contractors’ Residential Recovery Fund. 

Dew knowingly targeted elderly clients, sabotaging heating and cooling  equipment, replacing and charging for unnecessary parts for air conditioners and deliberately disabling heating and cooling systems in order to sell service contracts. He also trained his employees and technicians how to commit these acts, intimidating customers, and obtaining financial benefit from these acts, according to the Registrar of Contractors.