A jury of six people found former Olympus Pools owner and New Tampa resident James Staten guilty on 35 of 36 counts of willingly defrauding customers by accepting money from them knowing he would not fulfill the contracts to build their pools.
Staten, who opened Olympus Pools in 2013, will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Mary Handsel on May 7 and the minimum sentence he can receive is 20 years, but Judge Handsel said that, based on sentencing guidelines, she can sentence Staten to up to 285 years in prison.
Among the felony charges Staten was found guilty of are fraud, misapplication of construction funds of more than $100,000, having an organized scheme to defraud and aggravated white-collar crime. The only charge he was not convicted of was one of the grand theft charges.
Investigators said that Staten, who did take the stand in his own defense on the last of ten days of testimony in the trial, stole more than $1.5 million of his clients’ money to fund a lavish lifestyle that included multiple trips, jewelry and Super Bowl tickets.
Prosecutors Stephanie Bergen and Panagiota Papakos of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office told the jury that Staten continued to instruct his sales people to accept large down payments from customers even though he had no intention of building their pools. Dozens of those customers were left with holes in the ground on their respective properties and many had no work started at all.
The jurors were apparently unimpressed with defense attorney Dino Michaels’ argument that Staten didn’t intend to defraud his customers: “If you have a business plan, that’s just not a scheme to defraud. It’s a business plan. To sell more pools, unfortunately, is a bad business plan. And so, this company failed.” It took only four hours for the jury to reach their verdict on all 36 counts, with 35 of those coming back as “guilty” verdicts.
According to a press release dated March 17, Uthmeier previously “took civil action to shut down Olympus Pools, permanently shuttering the company. As a result of the civil action, [Olympus] is enjoined permanently from conducting business, and Staten is banned for life from operating a pool company in Florida.”
Obviously, Staten, 42, is facing a much more stringent penalty now, as he could spend the rest of his life in prison, depending upon how long Judge Handsel decides to sentence him to serve on May 7. — GN
Pasco County Building Construction Services is stepping up to help customers burned by Olympus Pools, offering new tools and financial relief for those whose pool projects are in limbo due to open permits.
They have launched a dedicated webpage to help customers navigate the permitting process, as well as providing answers to any additional questions in this FAQ. Best of all, the county is waiving all fees associated with Olympus Pools permits through Dec. 31, 2021, a move expected to help hundreds of customers left with unfinished pools.
“We hope this action will help ease the financial burden on our customers who choose to seek other permitting options,” said Assistant County Administrator Sally Sherman.
Olympus Pools customers have three options for open pool permits:
Oversee the project yourself.
Hire a new, licensed pool contractor.
Cancel your pool permit.
To choose an option, just fill out the form found HERE and e-mail to BCS@MyPasco.net.
The county says over the past two years, Olympus Pools has pulled hundreds of permits for pool projects in Pasco County, and most remain unfinished. For more information on your options, please visit the county’s new webpage: bit.ly/OlympusPermits.
When I last owned a home, which was a dozen years ago, most of my neighbors in Hunter’s Green had pools behind their homes. The lot I raised my boys on was plenty big enough for a pool, but we had two big dogs and our yard was used more for throwing around footballs and baseballs than anything else — and I did my lap swimming at the New Tampa Family YMCA in Tampa Palms.
Gary Nager Editorial
But, one thing I know for sure. If Olympus Pools was around and had the kind of technology they do now that would allow me to build the lap pool of my dreams (with an outdoor grill kitchen for me and a hot tub and maybe a waterfall for the family) closer to when we first moved into that house in 1995, I might have forgotten all about using our yard as a football field.
But, even though Olympus Pools owner James Staten and his family hadn’t yet opened what today is the #1 pool builder in the entire Tampa Bay area (more on that below) that long ago and didn’t start advertising in the Neighborhood News until 2015, there also is no doubt that no company has built more pools in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel since that time than Olympus. I’m also certain that no other swimming pool contractor has ever given back — and/or continues to give back — more to the communities they serve than the Statens.
So, Why Am I Telling You This?
In the 5-6 years I’ve known the Staten family, all I had ever heard from people in both of our distribution areas was that they 1) had found out about Olympus from the ads and stories about the company in the Neighborhood News and 2) that they loved the pool Olympus built for their family.
That is, until this year, when a few people in a local online community expressed their displeasure with the amount of time it was taking to get their pools built by Olympus, with a couple of them saying to, “use anyone else but Olympus Pools.”
I was stunned and dismayed to see people turn on this wonderful family and their company, especially since it was so soon after my friend Jennifer Murtha had just posted such glowing reviews on the same Facebook community of not only the final result (photos) of her family’s Olympus-built pool, but also the entire process from start to finish.
Beautiful swimming pool with early morning sun in the tropics.
Of course, I called the Statens first to find out what was going on but I also looked into how the pandemic had affected the swimming pool business not only locally but in warmer-weather markets across the U.S.
In a year when almost every industry has taken a major hit from Covid-19, the pool contracting business is up by 38%, which has caused the wait times to get pools built to increase by 50% or more, with few exceptions.
“There are many problems people in our industry have all been dealing with,” James says, “from entire teams of contractors having to quarantine because of Covid, to the shutdown of most government agencies, including those responsible for construction permits, to a shortage of concrete and other building materials. The bottom line is that while this has been a great year for our business, it’s also been the hardest year ever for staying on schedule, which is why we’ve had to extend the lead times from start to finish for new pools.”
In fact, when you visit the Olympus Pools website (OlympusPoolsFL.com), the home page has the following note:
“The swimming pool construction industry has been greatly impacted by the effects of Covid-19. Unprecedented demand, shortages of lumber and other building materials and lack of skilled labor have increased the time it takes to build a backyard resort. Please plan ahead. Currently, expect 6-7 months from sign to swim.”
And, considering that this award-winning company with 78 employees at three locations (Lakeland, Lakewood Ranch and the new Lutz showroom and headquarters on S.R. 54) built more pools (500+) in 2019 than the #2, #3 and #4 Tampa Bay-area pool builders combined — and that number is up to nearly 1,000 pools in 2020 — you can imagine that Olympus also has been more affected by these disturbing industry trends than anyone else locally.
“If we build 1,000 pools and have only 5% of the people unhappy, that’s still 50 families who didn’t get their pool when they expected or weren’t happy in some way. But, no matter what the percentages are, that still hurts.”
Even so, James adds, “Everything we’ve been through this year has made us much more ready for anything that might happen in the years to come. So, that’s one bright spot.”
But, it probably hurts even more for a company that, based on its performance through 2019, was named No. 2,411 on the 2020 “Inc. (magazine) 5000” with three-year revenue growth of 172%. The Inc. 5000 is the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies across all industries.
Olympus also was listed in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2020 Fast 50 — the fastest-growing companies in the Tampa Bay area — and also was one of fewer than 150 Florida companies to be certified as a Great Place to Work® in 2020.
Year-Round Giving
In addition to building more pools than anyone else in the Bay area, the Statens and their company also give back more to the communities they serve than pretty much any other company. And, this year-round spirit of giving has extended to the entire family, including 11-year-old Jacob Staten.
Jacob Staten
Before we get into what Jacob has been doing, here are some of the charitable organizations Olympus Pools has supported in 2020 alone:
• $10k to Pasco Firefighters Charities, which helped collect food for the Feeding Tampa Bay drive (see below);
• $5k to New Tampa Family YMCA, which served as a food drive collection site ;
• $10k to American Nurses ($100 for each pool Olympus sold this year);
• Purchased the Amazon wish list of the residents of a local women’s shelter;
• Reimbursed lunches for employees of locally-owned restaurants during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown.
Meanwhile, rather than gifts, Jacob has been collecting food for his birthday for the past six years, all to benefit Feeding Tampa Bay. Jacob and his entire Olympus family had 13 Tampa Metro-area YMCAs participating as collection sites for the food, which was then dropped off at the Feeding Tampa Bay warehouse near Ybor City (picture below)\
And, Jacob’s collection of more than 2,500 lbs. of food (and $3,100 in cash donations) for his birthday this year didn’t go unnoticed, as he has been featured on (or in) several different local news media, including two TV stations, a radio station, as well as in this and other local publications.
Olympus even gave out free raffle tickets to everyone who donated food this year, with a chance to win a Sony PS5, AirPods or a flat-screen TV.
The local Olympus Pools showroom (21859 S.R. 54, Lutz) is open Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-7 p.m., and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Sat. & Sun.
For more information, call (813) 983-7854 or visit OlympusPoolsFL.com.
The team at Olympus Pools not only takes great pride in their pools, but also in their community service, like donating time and money to local schools, the New Tampa YMCA and organizations like Feeding Tampa Bay, where they filled carts of food and delivered them to the needy. (Photo: Alexis Staten)
Olympus Pools owners James and Alexis Staten are getting ready to bring their business closer to the community they’ve been part of for six years.
“New Tampa is our home,” says Alexis, who grew up in Coral Springs and has five children ranging between ages 9-15 with James, who was born in New Smyrna Beach. “We’re here for the long term and really take pride in being the main pool builder (in our area), so we want to invest in the area.”
Alexis says that more than half of Olympus’ custom-designed pools have been built in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area, including K-Bar Ranch, Meadow Pointe, Grand Hampton and many more, so requiring customers to travel to the current showroom near Tampa International Airport was something the Statens decided to fix.
“Plans are in the works for a new facility to open up in Lutz this summer, with a lot more space, so several customers can work with designers at the same time,” says James, who adds that he had worked every job there is in the pool business before opening Olympus. “Now when people are thinking about a new pool, they will be able to get to us in ten minutes or less.”
The bigger and better showroom will feature a slew of brand new features, cutting-edge design and of course, the latest technology in pools — something the Statens have always made paramount.
“Everything we do is digital,” says Alexis. “We want to do more than just build a pool; we’re providing an experience.”
The company uses a 3-D imaging AutoCAD system to bring the customer’s vision of a new pool to life before the Olympus Pools’ construction staff even breaks ground.
You can take a 360-degree tour of your pool on a high-definition screen. The technology even allows you to see what the pool will look like at dusk or at night, and can also give you a close-up view of what it will be like floating through the pool.
The Statens’ latest addition to their high-tech arsenal is a smartphone app that keeps customers informed about their pool project 24/7.
Users can receive daily updates via the project management app, pay bills and even ask staff questions that will be answered the same day (in most cases). Olympus employees use the app to post blueprints, photographs and more to keep you fully informed, even if you aren’t home.
“Our technology and in-house equipment helps us deliver the finished product faster,” James says. “Nobody’s ever sad when the construction is over.”
It doesn’t matter whether you’re budgeting for a $30,000 or a $300,000 pool, Olympus uses the same top-quality products.
“We use the best filters, best pumps and best salt systems included with every pool,” James says. “Even the most basic design gets the most premium quality money can buy.”
How About These Add-Ons?
Olympus Pools doesn’t just build pools to swim in, they specialize in delivering the entire pool experience, along with other customized offerings.
Built-in pool bars are a popular choice these days, because they save space that would normally be taken up on the pool deck, and they offer comfort and convenience. Olympus Pools can build something fancy or simple, and are able to accommodate virtually any design you can dream of, so customers and their family and guests can enjoy their food and drink without ever having to leave their pool.
And, if you want to keep the party outdoors, Olympus Pools also builds outdoor kitchens to enhance your pool time. From a refrigerator to a grill to a storage space, outdoor kitchens can be the ultimate entertainment space. And, while Olympus is not a standalone kitchen builder, they can add them to your new pool construction project. Custom-designed kitchens, custom outdoor cabinetry, grilling islands with built-in grills, smokers and pizza ovens, fireplaces and fire pits and appliances are all available.
The Statens also take great pride in their staff, most of whom have been with them from the company’s birth in 2013. There are six designers and four project managers on staff, and more than 150 crew members in the field on a daily basis. James, Alexis and their senior employees have more than 200 years of combined experience in a steadily-growing industry. Olympus Pools designed and built just shy of 400 pools in 2018.
James says that the family-oriented, team environment in which everyone reaps the benefits of hard work is the key to Olympus’ success.
“We feel the most pride and satisfaction when a customer is thrilled with his new pool; that means a lot to us,” says James. “The best people in this industry can go anywhere, so we try to create an environment where we’re supporting our staff and helping them give the best customer service possible.”
Customer & Community Service
Olympus Pools employees, more than half of whom live and work in the New Tampa area, enjoy team-building events throughout the year and have enthusiastically joined the Statens in their mission to better the community they all love.
“Our kids are growing here, their lives are here,” says Alexis of the company’s community service efforts. “We have the means to help our community thrive, and we want to do that as much as we can.”
Three years ago, James began contributing a portion of Olympus’ profits to DonorsChoose.org, an organization that brings much-needed supplies and improvements to low-income Hillsborough County schools, and the company now sponsors a classroom about five times annually. Students at those schools recently received new tablets and multimedia equipment to keep them on track with children in more affluent schools.
Olympus Pools has also supported local schools like Hunter’s Green and Pride Elementary and Turner/Bartels K-8 School with technology items the past few years, and the pool maker also supports student athletics by sponsoring several local Little League teams.
The Statens send their children to the Turner/Bartels K-8 School and Turner Elementary, and in 2018, James led the effort to remove a hazardous wooden structure outside of Turner. Olympus installed a new paver deck area and gazebo, creating a nice area where students can eat lunch outside. The Statens also sponsored the school’s annual Winterfest fundraiser, participate in the Great American Teach-In each year and have supported the Hillsborough County Anti-Bullying initiative.
And, to celebrate Water Safety Month last May, Olympus donated more than $2,000 of that month’s profits to the New Tampa YMCA’s scholarship fund, providing swimming lessons to local kids who otherwise could not afford them.
The Statens’ 9-year-old son Jacob introduced them to Feeding Tampa Bay, a child-hunger nonprofit, when he asked for donations instead of gifts to mark his fifth birthday. He has done so every birthday since, and the organization has become a family favorite that now includes the entire Olympus staff.
“It’s very cool to see over 20 people filling their carts, loading and unloading pallets of food,” James says. “It’s fun for all of us, and it’s nice to have a hands-on activity rather than just writing a check.”
Alexis says that her employees work especially hard that time of year, because they know if they don’t sell enough pools, the funds to help won’t be there.
“We joke with them that if they don’t sell, children won’t eat,” said James with a smile. “But, they always come through.”
In 2018, Olympus raised enough for 2,200 meals and toiletries. The company has pledged to help even more as they continue to grow, creating one totally unique backyard oasis at a time for their customers in New Tampa and beyond.
For more info about Olympus Pools, visit “Olympus Pools” on Facebook or OlympusPoolsFL.com or call (813) 983-7854. Olympus works with clients in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties. The company’s current design center is located at 4422 N. Lauber Way in Tampa, but the new Olympus showroom will open in Lutz sometime this summer.
Involving the homeowner in the design process — and new technologies — are hallmarks of Olympus Pools and regional manager and designer Doug Griffith. (Photo by Andy Warrener)
A swimming pool can say so much about a home. Architecture and landscaping can project a homeowner’s sense of style from the street, but a unique, custom-designed pool conveys that sense of style to friends and family, people who are inside the home.
It can be difficult in scorching Florida summers to enjoy the outdoors without a pool. It’s also a huge investment, perhaps the biggest single-ticket item that goes into anyone’s home.
New Tampa residents James and Alexis Staten, owners of Olympus Pools in Tampa, share that view. They won’t put any pool in your home unless it’s of the same quality they would have in their own home.
“From the amount of steel, the thickness of the concrete and finished products like tile, pavers or travertine floors, the same products we offer our customers are the same products we use in our own homes,” Staten says.
The company is accustomed to managing a large volume of projects. There are four designers and four project managers on staff, with 150 crew members out in the field on any given day. In 2017, Olympus completed 330 pools, all completely customized; 40 to 50 ongoing projects are managed at any time.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re budgeting for a $30,000 or a $300,000 pool, Olympus uses the same top-quality products.
“We use the best filters, best pumps and best salt systems included with every pool,” Staten says. “Even the most basic design gets the most premium quality money can buy.”
It’s a sentiment not lost on Olympus Pools’ core of veteran employees.
Construction manager Brian Messler has 34 years of experience in the business, and helped start the company with the Statens in 2013. “All of my subcontractors are top notch and each specializes in one phase of the construction,” says Messler. “We’ve got tile guys, plumbers, excavators and other specialized craftsmen. A lot of our crew (members) have 30 or more years of experience, too.”
Messler says that if anything doesn’t look right when your pool is being built (or completed), it will be dealt with immediately. “If I go to a job site and I see something that would be unacceptable in my house,” he says, “we take it out and replace it.”
Customized Designs
Olympus Pools doesn’t sell “templates.” Every pool starts with a clean slate and is entirely built around the customer’s desires. James says his company’s guiding principles are incorporating the customer’s available space, taste and budget.
“The design has to fit with the customer’s environment, as well as their wants and needs,” he says. “It’s what makes this business fun to work in. We’re extremely passionate that each pool we build will be unique. I like to say we’re in the memory business.”
He adds that every week, customers send him and his staff text messages with photos of their new pools and how much they are enjoying them. If his customers are happy, James and his staff are happy.
“It’s what gets us out of bed in the morning,” he says.
Olympus Pools prides itself on bringing the customer’s vision to life. Sometimes, all they have to work with is something sketched on a piece of paper. No matter. Regional manager and designer Doug Griffith takes customers through every step of the process, letting them see and touch the colors and textures that will be used in their dream pool.
The company’s showroom near Tampa International Airport helps bring the customer’s vision into reality.
“We’re not selling a package,” Griffith says. “We spend a lot of time creating the right pool for the right person.”
Griffith, like Messler, has been with Olympus Pools since its inception and as the regional manager, he stays on top of any issues that come up with a new or existing installation.
Tracking With Tech
Olympus Pools keeps up to date with cutting-edge technology, which fits into every aspect of pool construction. The company’s 3-D imaging AutoCAD system creates a life-like image of your pool. It can be rotated 360 degrees, to show the customer what the pool would look like at dusk or at night, even view features as if floating through the pool.
“We can create an entire 3-D tour for every client” James says. “Customers can see what their pools will look like before any construction is started.”
During construction, customers can use a customized application that enables them to check the construction schedule, communicate with Olympus staff members, access any documents related to the pool’s construction and make secure payments online.
Customers also can receive photos of the project’s progress 24-7, even if they are away from home.
Olympus also utilizes an application created by pool pump manufacturer Hayward called OmniLogic that enables customers to control day-to-day and customized functions of their aquatic oases.
The technology is only three years old, and it allows a homeowner to change the pool’s temperature, check the salinity and chlorine levels, and even turn the spa on or off. For example, a client could be out to dinner and, by pressing one button on their phone, can set the temperature and lighting just right in their spa for when they get home.
“We want ownership of our pools to be as easy and carefree as possible,” James says. “The only thing I want them to worry about is what to serve at the barbeque.”
Community Connections
The Statens live in and install a lot of pools in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area, and are big proponents of giving back to the Tampa Bay community.
Four or five times a year, Olympus Pools sponsors a local classroom through Donors Choose.org, a public charitable organization. DonorsChoose connects contributors to classrooms that have submitted requests through the website. Olympus Pools sponsored five classrooms in 2017, which are predominantly in the low-income-area public schools in Hillsborough County.
Recent efforts saw Olympus Pools donate tablets to each student in a selected class, help in donating an entire audio-visual system to a special needs class where the teacher had students who were hard of hearing, and donating $200 from each of 22 different pools they built to Feeding Tampa Bay, a hunger-relief charity — nearly 3,100 meals were purchased with those funds.
“If you’re in business and all you do is make money, you’re not a very good business,” James says.
Over the years, Olympus had donated more than $50,000 to the aforementioned charities, as well as to Kids Place (a foster home), and in sponsorships and donations to schools in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area. Hand-written thank-you letters from dozens of students line the window of the main office and dry erase board in the Olympus Pools showroom. Â
“We’re all about giving back to the community,” James says. “Most of our staff lives in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area. Our kids go to school in the area and half of our business comes out of that area.”
Olympus Pools has installed custom pools in the Live Oak, K-Bar Ranch, Estancia at Wiregrass Ranch, Union Park, Grand Hampton, Meadow Pointe and Esplanade communities, to name a few. The company’s goal is to make your dream aquatic paradise a reality.
Olympus Pools is located at 4422 N. Lauber Way in Tampa. For more information, visit OlympusPoolsFl.com, call (813) 983-7854, or see the ad on pg. 24 of this issue.
