Pure Country Landscaping

I had Mr. Balderas come to my house to walk my yard and discuss the changes I wanted made. He quoted a price, told me it would be 1/2 up front, the rest when the job was complete. He wrote up a rough 'contract'. I paid him the half via personal check that night. The next day he had a crew work most of the day, pulling out old plants/mulch, trimming a tree, hauling in river rock, creating new landscape beds, etc. For some reason he spread the rock ALL OVER the beds when it was only supposed to be a border. A couple days later, he asked for 25% of the balance, as he had a "bill to pay" and I had asked him to hold off completion until the weekend so I could be there while they worked. Even though this was NOT the agreement, I unfortunately wrote that check and he picked it up that night. After that, there was nothing but empty promises to show up/send pictures of plants (so I could make choices regarding what I wanted him to put in). He has never shown up again. He stopped communicating and gave a story about being separated therefore his accounts were frozen. He actually had the audacity to ask for the remainder of the balance at one point as well. I of course did not give this person any more of my hard earned money. I've learned he has apparently done this to numerous people and has been in legal trouble several times before. So at 6 weeks, I still have an unfinished yard when it could've been done in 1 week. This was a huge project/expense for me, and I do not take lightly that he stole from me. Not sure why on earth he thinks he's entitled to TAKE what others EARN.