Detectives arrested a Florida handyman after tracing unauthorized credit card charges for resort stays and payments to his own cleaning business back to him.
Jesse Modzel, 45, of Palm Coast, was taken into custody on October 9, 2026, following a months-long investigation into purchases made using a customer’s credit card.
The case began when a Palm Coast resident discovered unfamiliar transactions in December 2025. The resident still had his credit card and told deputies he hadn’t authorized the purchases.
Detectives eventually linked the transactions to Modzel, whose family’s cleaning business had unsupervised access to the customer’s home.
Following The Money
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reported that Modzel used the customer’s credit card to book stays at a Palm Coast resort and pay his family’s cleaning business, Breezy Clean.
Detectives discovered that the billing description associated with the business account had been changed shortly before the payments were processed. The change was meant to disguise the transactions, but detectives traced the payments back to Modzel.
His work as a handyman, along with the cleaning business’s access to the residence, became central to the case. The sheriff’s office did not explain exactly how Modzel obtained the customer’s credit card information.
The department also did not disclose the total value of the unauthorized transactions, the number of resort stays purchased, or the name of the resort.
Sheriff Rick Staly characterized the purchases as an unauthorized vacation at the customer’s expense. “This guy thought he deserved a Palm Coast ‘staycation’ on his client’s dime,” Staly said.
The sheriff credited detectives in the General Assignment Unit with tracing the transactions despite changes to the account information.
A Backyard Arrest
After detectives obtained an arrest warrant, deputies went to Modzel’s home on October 9 to take him into custody.
Modzel ran into the house when he spotted law enforcement, but deputies subsequently located him in the backyard and arrested him.
He was charged with principal to fraudulent use of a credit card, use of another person’s identification, and petit theft, second conviction. The charges are accusations and do not establish guilt.
Modzel was transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and later released on a $2,500 bond.
Staly also warned residents to examine the backgrounds of workers before granting them access to their homes. He noted that Modzel had previously been arrested for theft, although the release did not provide details about the earlier case or its disposition.
More Customers?
The sheriff’s office is concerned that other customers may have experienced similar unauthorized transactions because Modzel and Breezy Clean had access to private residences.
Deputies are asking anyone who believes Modzel or the cleaning business victimized them to contact the sheriff’s office.