- Tyler Tinoifili Ponausuia, 24, is charged with fraud and theft in Utah County.
- Ponausuia allegedly took payments for landscaping and other projects and abandoned them.
- Victims paid thousands; investigators say Ponausuia doesn't have a contractor license.
ALPINE — A St. George man who owns a landscaping business — even though police say he does not have a landscaping or contractor license — has been charged with taking money from Utah County residents and then abandoning the projects before the work was completed.
In one case, prosecutors say the man even tried to fake his own death to get out of a project.
Tyler Tinoifili Ponausuia, 24, was charged Thursday in 4th District Court with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, five counts of communications fraud and two counts of theft by deception, second-degree felonies; another count of theft by deception and two counts of communications fraud, third-degree felonies; and doing business without a license, a class B misdemeanor.
Ponausuia is also currently facing similar charges in St. George.
According to his latest charges, Ponausuia operated T&L Tree and Landscaping Service in 2024 and contracted with three customers in the Highland-Alpine area.
"During this time period, (Ponausuia) engaged in a pattern of conduct in which he contracted with the victims to preform concrete and landscaping services, accepted payments, and failed to complete the agreed scope of work, leaving the the victims' yards a mess and the victims having to pay reputable contractors to fix the damage," the charges state. "According to the Division of Professional Licensing, ( Ponausuia) has no license of any kind."
One woman paid Ponausuia nearly $6,000 as a down payment for landscaping. Prosecutors say Ponausuia completed about half the work before abandoning the project.
An Alpine man paid Ponausuia $8,050 as a down payment for concrete work at his residence after he showed the man pictures of other jobs he had allegedly completed. The man "later learned these photos were mostly Google images of projects performed by someone else," according to the charges.
Ponausuia also told the man he "ordered thousands of dollars worth of materials, but (the man) observed only a few hundred dollars worth of plywood at the property," the charges state. When Ponausuia asked for additional payments, the man told him, "he would not pay more money until the project was completed."
Ponausuia eventually abandoned the project. When the victim attempted to contact him to get him to finish the job, he received a text message from someone claiming to be Ponausuia's mother, who told him that Ponausuia had died from cancer, the charges allege.
A third victim made a $2,100 deposit for landscaping and concrete work.
"The only work (Ponausuia) performed was to cut down two trees without removing the stumps and to demolish a patio fence without resizing it. (Ponausuia) did not perform any concrete work," the charges state.
Ponausuia later told the victim that he needed to go to Hawaii for his mother's funeral and "then abandoned the project," police say.
