CANFIELD, Ohio - A Lake Milton landscaper has been arrested after a Canfield woman says she made a down payment on a $37,000 job that was never started.

Robert McDonald, 70, was booked into the Mahoning County Jail Tuesday on a theft warrant filed in Canfield Court.

According to a sheriff’s department report, a woman gave a $7,500 check to McDonald of Earthscape Design for a down payment on a $36,714 landscape project on her Covington Cove back yard.

The woman said after McDonald cashed the check last April.  She said McDonald promised to begin the work three weeks later, but never showed up.

Over the next couple months, the woman said she contacted McDonald several times who continued to make excuses as to why work had not started but said that he would be there in a couple weeks.

The woman alleges that McDonald contacted her in September with a new price quote of $49,000 for the job.  She said McDonald told her that the new price did not include the deposit that was already cashed.

The homeowner says she told McDonald she couldn’t afford the new price tag and asked to be reimbursed.

She claims McDonald agreed to give the money back but has yet to do so.

After repeated failed attempts to contact McDonald via text and phone, the woman said she went to McDonald’s home to collect her money, but claims he told her to get off his property.

A judge has set a February 10 preliminary court hearing for McDonald.