Veterans help 94-year-old Plano widow of decorated Vietnam Air Force pilot after alleged $70,000 pool contractor scam

Veterans don't stop being heroes after they leave the armed services. 

A group of them in Plano is coming to the aid of an elderly widow of an Air Force pilot, after she says she was ripped off by a contractor for $70,000. 

Since her husband Nick, a decorated Air Force pilot who served in Vietnam, died in 2011, his widow, Mary Beth Maier, has been able to manage their Plano home exceptionally well for a woman now in her 90s. 

Everything except their nearly 60-year-old swimming pool. 

"We had a problem with the pool leak," Maier said. "So I was looking for someone to renovate and repair and made a bad decision."

She says she hired an independent contractor who agreed to redo the pool for $35,000, which, within weeks, was raised to $70,000. 

"I started checking the books and all the invoices and started adding up stuff," her son, Robert Maier, said. "And no progress in 3 months, and found out he was a bad guy and a convicted felon."

"He did a terrible job," she said. "It was substandard, it wouldn't even probably pass inspection ... It was just devastating."

When Ryan Wade Hoffman, with Veteran's Pool Company, heard about what happened, he was at her house the very next day. 

"When I saw this scenario and then got the backstory of it, there was just no way that I could walk away," Hoffman said.

Hoffman offered to renovate the pool and surrounding area at no charge to the veteran's widow. He hopes to have the project finished in a few months and has acquired help from a dozen other companies that all believe it's a fitting tribute to the late veteran. 

"I had a spouse who was home alone a lot, and I would hate for someone to be taking advantage of her while I was gone," said Hoffman.

"They came to my rescue," Mary Beth Maier said. "Ryan Hoffman and a wonderful pool company."

The 94-year-old, who's temporarily in a physical rehab facility, got to thank the pool company owner in person on Monday and says she can't wait to come home and step into her backyard. 

"Oh yes, I'm looking forward to that, and I hope it's going to be pretty soon," she said. "And I think it will be."