A man seeking investors for a $5.5 million ice rink he wants to build on publicly owned land has a history of using forged documents in business dealings, court records show. 

Joey Guancione, a Vero Beach handyman, was convicted in 2017 of attempting to use a forged certificate of liability insurance. He was sentenced to one year of probation and he paid $887 in court costs and fines, records show.

He pleaded no contest — meaning he accepted the conviction without admitting guilt — but was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge, which was pleaded down from a felony charge of using a forged instrument.

“What I did was wrong,” Guancione told TCPalm last week. “I did what I had to do to put food on the table.”

Jersey Boys Handyman Services

The Indian River County case stems from his neighbor in Millstone Landing hiring him to do some touch-up painting at his house in March 2016, according to the arrest affidavit.

The property manager requested a certificate of liability insurance for Guancione’s business, called The Jersey Boys Handyman Services and Property Management. But the certificate he provided had been issued to Helmet House Construction, then altered to look like it was issued to his business, records show. 

The certificate for Helmet House, which had been hired to do work in the community three years prior, was on file with the neighborhood’s architectural review committee, of which Guancione was once a member.

Guancione told TCPalm he dropped the insurance on his business a few years ago, around the time his son was born, because of the high cost. 

Guancione, also listed on LinkedIn as the owner of G-Force Painting and Power Washing, does not have a state or county contractor’s license, records show. Nor have licenses been issued to The Jersey Boys business, according to David Checchi, Indian River County’s contractor licensing investigator.

The county does not issue or reciprocate handyman licenses, Checchi said, and many jobs a handyman might advertise do not require any kind of license.

Vero Beach ice rink

Vero Beach City Manager Monte Falls said city officials were unaware of Guancione’s criminal record, adding the city does not perform criminal background checks on people who seek to lease land from the city.

Guancione and his business partner, Bruce Gammell, previously told TCPalm they want to build an ice rink on 8½ acres of city-owned land at the Vero Beach Regional Airport near Aviation Boulevard and Piper Drive. 

More: First ice spanrenspan on the Trespansure Cospanst?

Discussions with the city have been preliminary and informational only and no formal agreements are in the works, Falls said. 

“People come in all the time and talk about potential projects,” Falls said. “We get lots of people who come in for one meeting and never come back.”

The city delves into applicants’ backgrounds only after a formal application is submitted, Falls said. Even then, Falls could not recall ever investigating an applicant’s background beyond their finances.

“As landowners, (the city) would vet him for financial capability of performing the lease obligations,” Falls said, but would not investigate an applicant’s criminal history as a routine part of an application review.

Project Ice

Guancione’s and Gammell’s plans for the ice rink, called Project Ice, are ambitious, and include two rinks with Norman Rockwell-esque holiday decorations and hopes of landing a deal with the National Hockey League team Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The main skating rink would be large enough for high school competition, with spectator stands, locker rooms, party rooms, a sports bar and offices. A second, smaller rink, about the size of a basketball court, would be for beginning skaters.

Guancione and Gammell, former hockey coaches, would offer lessons in hockey and figure skating, as well as youth and adult hockey leagues and a curling club.

They said they aim to begin the one-year construction project as early as February or March.

TCPalm does not know whether investors are being told of Guancione’s criminal record.

Gammell did not respond to multiple requests for comment.