BATON ROUGE, La. – A Baton Rouge homeowner is filing a civil lawsuit after claiming she was scammed out of $6,000 by a man posing as an air conditioning repairman.
Ingrid Crenshaw-Thomas, a travel nurse with a demanding schedule, said she trusted Sunny Knox to repair her broken A/C after getting word-of-mouth recommendations in April.
Records from the Louisiana Secretary of State list Knox as the manager and registered agent of Airpros LLC.
“I checked out his credentials,” Crenshaw-Thomas said. “It was Easter Sunday, steamy hot Louisiana weather—so I just went with it.”
Knox allegedly told her the entire unit needed to be replaced and quoted her $3,200. Although she was skeptical, she ended up paying $2,500 after he insisted he had already obtained the unit. But once installed, the system failed to properly cool the home.
When she called Knox to report the issue, he claimed there were holes in her ducts and quoted an additional $3,500 for repairs. She sent the money again, but never received a receipt, warranty, or service agreement. The only evidence of their transaction are Zelle payments and text messages.
Court records reveal Knox had previously been ordered by a judge in 2023 to repay $2,500 and complete 50 hours of community service for a similar scheme.
Now, Crenshaw-Thomas says Knox has stopped returning her calls. She is moving forward with a civil lawsuit.
“I had a new guy come in, Mr. Kyle, who asked me if a crackhead had been working in my home,” she said. “Nothing was done to code.”
WBRZ visited three addresses associated with Airpros LLC and contacted Knox via email and phone. One call reached his mother, who promised to relay the message—but as of this report, Knox has not responded.
“If you run into him, run away,” Crenshaw-Thomas said. “He’s a liar and a schemer.”
