Missouri contractor arrested, accused of taking $320,000 for work he never finished
Police in Warrensburg, Missouri, have arrested a local contractor they accuse of collecting more than $320,000 for commercial construction work that was never done. Business owners, unpaid subcontractors and employees with bounced paychecks are among those police list as victims.
The Warrensburg Police Department opened the fraud investigation on May 5, KCTV5 reported. According to police, four business owners paid the contractor more than $255,000 for commercial work on their buildings in town. They later found the work unfinished and learned that materials they had paid for were never ordered.
Other victims gave investigators similar accounts: they hired him, paid up front and got no work, police said. Several local business owners told police he brought them on as subcontractors for specific jobs and never paid them. His own employees reported that their paychecks bounced and came back stamped for insufficient funds.
Police booked him on suspicion of theft and passing bad checks: four theft counts at the $25,000-and-up level, 14 at $750 or more, and 10 bad-check counts. Altogether, the alleged losses exceed $320,000. As of Nov. 4, no formal charges had appeared in CaseNet, Missouri's online court records system, and no court date had been set. He was being held in the Johnson County, Missouri, detention center with no bond listed. The accusations have not been tested in court, and Hard Hat Report is not naming him because he has not been charged.
Why it matters: Subs hired by a contractor who has already taken the owner's money are often the last to learn it is gone. Before you mobilize, ask for proof that materials were ordered and paid for, and treat a bounced check from a GC as a reason to stop work.