If you need help with the Public File, call (313) 222-0566

At WDIV, we are committed to informing and delighting our audience. In our commitment to covering our communities with innovation and excellence, we incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance our news gathering, reporting, and presentation processes. Read our article to see how we are using Artificial Intelligence.

DETROIT – What started as a seemingly routine home repair quickly unraveled into something far more troubling for one Detroit family.

A man appeared to be posing as a contractor — arriving in construction gear and accompanied by two teens — showed up April 7 at a west side Detroit home, offering to do brick work for about $300. But according to the homeowner’s daughter, the situation started to seem fishy — and expensive — fast.

Tameka Kelly said the trio told her 76-year-old mother they were with “State Line Construction” and began working almost immediately.

“I just felt used and taken advantage of,” Kelly said, looking back at the situation.

“They kept working — kept putting cement down, I said, ‘you might want to tell them to stop.’ He said, ‘well right now it’s $1129.’ I said, ‘my mother‘s not paying you $1000,’” Kelly said.

At one point, the man even offered to repair the bottom of the home’s wheelchair ramp — something Kelly said her sister, who lives with her mother, relies on daily. But she refused because something just didn’t sit right.

“I gave him the $300,” Kelly said, hoping they would just leave. “I thought, well, he knows where my mom lives. I don’t want him coming back trying to do something to my mom‘s house or something to our vehicles.”

Kelly later tried to confront the man, who identified himself as Brian Lopez, and called the number on the invoice.

“When I called he was like, ‘no no no brickwork no brickwork’ I said, ‘yes you did. You were just here. I said I don’t forget a voice,’” she said.

But the biggest red flag came when she looked closer at the address listed on the invoice.

The address — 70 West Maple in Troy — turned out to be a McDonald’s.

“I really got upset when I found out that address was to a McDonald’s,” Kelly said.

Initially, Kelly said when she tried to file a report with Detroit police, she said they told her the situation was a civil matter and she could not file one. She then filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.

Now, Detroit police tell Local 4 they will be taking Kelly’s fraud report, and once that is completed, an investigation will follow.

State Line initially told Local 4 they were not familiar with a Brian Lopez, then an attorney for State Line construction told Local 4 that, after checking the company’s records, there is no Brian Lopez that works for the company. As a matter of fact, the attorney said, State Line Construction does not do cement or residential construction. He said they focus on electrical work.

Attempts by Local 4 to reach the man going by the name Brian Lopez with the number given were unsuccessful.

Kelly said she felt compelled to speak up to prevent others from falling victim.

“I’m really upset about it, and I don’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.

How in the world did things get so bad so fast for the Detroit Pistons?

In just one outing in the 2026 NBA playoffs, they went from top-seeded darlings of the Eastern Conference to punching bags punked by an 8-seed short on rest but long on resilience and toughness.

“I would say they ‘outphysical-ed’ us today,” Pistons wing Ausar Thompson said after the Orlando Magic stole Game 1 of the first-round NBA playoff series, 112-101, at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday, April 19. “One, because they got more rebounds than us. They forced more turnovers.”

MITCH ALBOM: Pistons still growing but don’t have much time to learn

Yes, this was always going to be a physical series. Though you would think the Pistons, owners of the NBA’s second-best defense and playing at home, would have a sizable advantage.

It also should have helped them that they were coming off six days’ rest, as opposed to the Magic coming off winning a play-in game just 47 hours earlier.