A Dartmouth businessman has changed his plea to guilty on two counts of fraud in a case in which several customers claim they lost thousands of dollars when they paid for solar panels that were never delivered.

Barry Pincock, 51, of Lakecrest Drive, changed his pleas Friday in Halifax provincial court.

The Crown offered no evidence on a third count of fraud and that charge was dismissed.

A judge has ordered a pre-sentence report, which will give the court more insight into Pincock's background and crimes. Pincock returns to court Aug. 21 for sentencing.

In 2016, two men as well as the owners of Dominion Diving, a commercial diving company in Dartmouth, told CBC News that, altogether, they handed over approximately $67,000 to Pincock's company, Werth Solar, but did not receive the panels. Other customers from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also complained to police.

One unsatisfied customer, Kit Hood, took Werth Solar and Pincock to small claims court to recoup the $19,000 deposit he paid for a solar energy package. Hood claimed he had not received one solar panel.

A small claims adjudicator sided with Hood and said that Hood had been given "a total runaround" by a company whose excuses were "bordering on fraud."

In a separate court case, in 2013, Pincock told police that his business partner, Brian Kenneth Penney, wanted to hire a hit man to kill him. Charges against Penney were later withdrawn after the Crown received new evidence and felt there was no chance of a conviction.