Summer is around the corner, and many families are making plans to complete their dream backyards with pools.
Unfortunately, our KSAT Investigates team is uncovering what some are calling a scamming pool contractor.
Unfinished pool projects
“We both had a really, really good feeling upon our first impression of meeting Caleb,” Dave Clausen said.
He and his wife Kim’s home with their two boys is picturesque. The backyard is breathtaking, aside from the hole in the ground where a pool was supposed to sit.
“How much money have you paid, Caleb, for this project?” KSAT reporter Leigh Waldman asked.
“About $126,000 altogether,” Dave answered.
The Clausen’s shared their pool’s design, their contract and copies of checks paid to Caleb Jenkins’ pool company, Aquazul Custom Pools.
Jenkins signed for the overall project in September 2022. Kim Clausen says work started in February 2023 and was supposed to take three months to complete.
“To spend that amount of money and then looking at this unfinished work, how does that make you feel?” Waldman asked.
“It’s nauseating,” Kim said.
It’s a problem Gina Villanueva and her husband, Joey, sympathize with. They’re also Aquazul customers and have had their share of problems with its owner.
“These crack clear down the middle,” Joey said, showing us several cracked pipes that had to be replaced from their pool job.
While their pool looks good compared to Clausen’s unfinished job, they’re finding problem after problem with work that was not done properly.
“So none of the rock that was installed here was sealed at all,” Gina said, pointing out that the soot was continually polluting the water from unsealed rocks.
The Villanueva project was much larger. A casita, grotto, landscaping, fencing and the pool cost $223,000.
Both couples said they tried to get Jenkins to complete the work or give back their money.
On October 5, 2023, both couples received a bankruptcy letter.
“I texted Caleb one more time, and I just said, ‘Please, you know, we’ve been through like, don’t do this to our family,’” Kim said.
“I asked him, ‘Please provide the petition from your attorney.’ Still, we have yet to receive that.” Gina said.
KSAT Investigates found no record of bankruptcy ever filed.
But we did uncover more about Caleb Jenkins, the man behind Aquazul Custom Pools.
Caleb Jenkins
Jenkins and his company are named as defendants in a lawsuit out of New York’s Supreme Court.
A judge ruled in December of last year that Jenkins must pay a sum of over $93,000 to BHB Funding, a financial company that supplies loans to businesses.
Meanwhile, in Bexar County, Jenkins and his company are again named as defendants in a suit filed by Itria Ventures LLC in October 2023.
In the suit, Itria, a financial consulting company, is seeking $250,000 in damages for money loaned but not paid back.
Last month, a judge issued a default judgment siding with Itria.
Also, in Bexar County, Jenkins’ business spending was in question in arbitration with his ex-partner over their child. It states, “Many of the withdrawals from the business account which were all claimed as business expenses by Father were excluded by the arbitrator as inappropriate, not ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce the income.”
The paperwork details expenses to Mexico with Jenkins’ girlfriend, jewelry, restaurants, clothing, and medical expenses from the business account.
The Aquazul Custom Pools website includes an address for a brick-and-mortar store on the city’s North Side.
We stopped by, hoping to catch up with Jenkins or one of his associates. The building was vacant, but a sign indicated it was available to be leased.
The business had an address listed; however, that call went to voicemail and was never returned.
Our texts, emails and direct messages on social media to Jenkins have yet to be returned.
Both families, the Clausen’s and Villanueva’s, are now aware of Jenkins’ background; they have lost faith that they will ever recoup what was lost.
“We just really don’t want this to continue to happen. It’s more for awareness, I guess,” Joey Villanueva said.
“It’s just bringing Caleb to justice and not allowing him to do this to anyone else in the future because my gut tells me he will over and over and over again,” Dave Clausen said.
The Clausen and Villanueva families have filed reports with their respective law enforcement agencies. They hope Jenkins will be brought to justice.
According to the Texas Penal Code, Jenkins could face a felony if he’s arrested by law enforcement because of the amount paid for the services and never completed.
To be clear, as of the publication of this article, Jenkins has not been charged with any crime concerning his pool clients’ allegations.
On social media, Jenkins posted a rebuttal to the claims made against him.
About the bankruptcy letter, he writes, “What was actually sent out was a statement addressing that I was declaring bankruptcy, which I am. Bankruptcy is a process that can take months to complete.”
In reference to the money paid but work left incomplete at the Villanueva residence, Jenkins writes in part, “Go check her backyard. Go check any of their backyards. There’s work done and products produced.”
His full statement can be found below.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.