Convicted Ballston Spa contractor pleads guilty to bail jumping

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A Ballston Spa man convicted of defrauding a homeowner of $84,000 pleaded guilty to additional bail jumping charges on Friday. The Albany County District Attorney's Office said Chad Nichols, 48, was sentenced to serve one-and-a-half to three years for second-degree bail jumping, on top of his 14-year sentence for grand larceny, extortion, and criminal impersonation charges.

Nichols failed to appear at his sentencing in February after he pleaded guilty to the contracting scam in December 2024. Several law enforcement agencies, including the Albany County District Attorney’s Office Criminal Investigation Unit, New York State Police, Saratoga County Sheriff’s Deputies, and the Capital Regional Crime Analysis Center, worked together for two months to locate Nichols before arresting him in April at a Saratoga Springs hotel.

Through his guilty plea, Nichols admitted to accepting payment for a home improvement project that he never finished in the spring of 2023. Nichols also threatened the homeowner when they asked for the payment back.

“What we have here is someone who manipulated a single mother and her children and ruined their lives,” Judge Thomas Marcelle said in February. “He is a thief with no conscience. He preyed on them for his own personal gratification.”