A Florida homeowner’s attempt to rebuild after a devastating house fire ended in a different kind of disaster this week. Authorities announced the arrest of Cornelius Sentell Osborne, a man accused of posing as a general contractor and pocketing $174,000 from a fire victim before abandoning the job entirely.
The Department of Financial Services Criminal Investigations Division caught up with Osborne in Plantation, Florida, on March 19, 2026.
Investigators say Osborne struck a deal to restore the fire-damaged property in Hollywood, but the partnership quickly soured. After collecting a massive six-figure sum from the homeowner, Osborne allegedly walked away from the project after several months of inaction…