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BR contractor behind on his bills said he spent $15k on vacation this year; see video of his Disney World arrest

2 years 11 months 3 weeks ago Monday, April 05 2021 Apr 5, 2021 April 05, 2021 10:35 AM April 05, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

ORLANDO- Body camera footage released by the Orange County Sheriff's Office shows Baton Rouge resident Kelly Sills' arrest in February after he didn't comply with COVID-19 guidelines at Disney World.

Click here to see body camera footage of the arrest. 

Sills was arrested for trespassing when he refused to pass through a temperature check at Disney Springs, according to arrest reports. Sills told officers he couldn't be trespassing because he paid $15,000 to be there.

"I spent $15,000," he said.

In the video, someone tells Sills, "All you had to do was get temperature-checked. That's it."

"I paid $15,000. You can't trespass me for paying $15,000," Sills said.

The exorbitant amount Sills allegedly spent to go to Disney World is raising questions because Sills is accused of not paying his bills in Baton Rouge.

Last month, we showed you Sills who is the owner of Coastal Bridge is in default on a number of projects in Louisiana. The WBRZ Investigative Unit found he was deducting health insurance out of employees paychecks, but when one man needed to have his leg amputated he discovered he had no health insurance.

"In November, I was riding on my motorcycle, and from what I was told I took a good spill," Nieves-Rivera said. "I ended up losing my leg, fracturing on my legs, ankles in and out of a coma.... medically flown to New Orleans."

After learning doctors could not save his leg, more devastating news came. Nieves-Rivera was told he had no health insurance.

"First, I was told Blue Cross Blue Shield would not pay the claim because my employer did not pay the premium," Nieves-Rivera said.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit obtained invoices from Nieves-Rivera's medical bills, which total hundreds of thousands of dollars. A pay stub he provided to the WBRZ Investigative Unit from around the time the crash occurred showed Coastal Bridge deducted his health insurance from his paycheck.

That money was never paid to Blue Cross, as Nieves-Rivera was told Coastal Bridge had not paid their health insurance.

In February, we exposed Coastal Bridge defaulted on a number of state projects and is accused of stiffing taxpayers to the tune of nearly $1 million.

The company invoiced DOTD for a State Police detail. It was responsible for paying State Police but did not.

Coastal Bridge was awarded the emergency repair contract to fix the Sunshine Bridge when a barge ran into it in 2018. Louisiana State Police had to work a 24/7 traffic detail on both sides of the bridge to prevent cars from going across.

Coastal Bridge sent DOTD three invoices totaling $880,860 for the LSP detail. DOTD said it paid Coastal Bridge for the work. Two years later, State Police confirmed to WBRZ those invoices were still outstanding.

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