The North Carolina Attorney General held a press conference Tuesday at noon to discuss his new initiative and to work with local law enforcement.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson held the conference at the Watauga County Administration Building to talk about and answer questions on his latest initiative called “Safe to Rebuild.”
“What you’re seeing is law enforcement speaking with one voice. We’re going to do everything in our power to keep people safe while they’re rebuilding,” Jackson said.
The initiative’s goal is to prevent those running a scam from taking advantage of people who are trying to rebuild their homes that were destroyed during Hurricane Helene. Jackson provided past examples of these scams where people pretended to be law enforcement or government officials and people falsely claiming they have “special money.”
The Safe to Rebuild plan is to focus specifically on Western North Carolina and its residents. While there have been little known cases of scams in Watauga County, according to Watauga Sheriff Len D. Hagaman Jr., the initiative aims to get ahead of potential scams.
“We are prioritizing any and all complaints that come out of Western North Carolina,” Jackson said.
The initiative focuses on contractor companies that take part in scamming behavior like forcing clients to pay up front and then not delivering certain goods or services.
“There’s gonna be a major demand for contracting in Western North Carolina. If you’re a contractor, your services are in need — but you better treat people fairly,” Jackson said.
Another goal of the initiative is to educate people on potential scams and to provide a resource for people who do submit a complaint. Spreading awareness for the types of scams that center around contracting and rebuilding is a key goal of the plan for Watauga, according to Hagaman.
“People need to be aware,” Hagaman said.
Jackson addressed regional property crime and theft that arose from Hurricane Helene’s destruction.
“There have been reports of theft from construction sites, particularly in this phase of the rebuilding,” Jackson said.
(Jackson Hornback)
He said property crime is a threat to people moving forward with rebuilding and he plans to double down and work with local law enforcement to ensure crime is dealt with.
Jackson said both his office and local law enforcement are “shoulder to shoulder” in agreement with preventing and prosecuting scammers and property criminals.
The attorney general said safety is a No. 1 priority for families and business owners planning to rebuild in Western North Carolina. With his plan, he hopes to ensure locals can stay in Western North Carolina and feel safe within this phase of rebuilding.
“We want to send a very clear message to you, this is the best place to raise your family,” Jackson said.
