Work check leads to arrest

A Newport Beach building department employee went above and beyond the call of duty recently, when her diligence in stopping unlicensed construction led to the arrest of a man wanted on a federal warrant.

Nikki Brown, the building department’s newest inspector, ran across two men doing some suspicious work Dec. 13, said Newport Beach building director Jay Elbettar. She discovered it was unlicensed and ordered them to stop. They refused to cooperate, and they refused to leave, so she called the police.

When police arrived at the scene on the 1900 block of San Bruno, officers found a third man had joined the two. It was that man — 36-year-old Michael Mercado of Anaheim — who turned out to be wanted on a warrant for a federal parole violation, Newport Police Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Sailor added that it appeared Mercado was on probation for drugs and had left a treatment center earlier than scheduled.

Elbettar said there was a lesson in the incident: If you don’t pay for a licensed contractor, you never know what you’re going to get.

“Sometimes somebody comes in with a low bid, something too good to be true,” he said. “If you do not check their credentials, as a homeowner, you should be really careful.”