Missouri contractor arrested in $320,000 fraud case as workers' paychecks bounced

He landed in the Johnson County jail on Nov. 3 on a warrant with bond set at $150,000, cash only, according to court records described by Wealth of Geeks in a report carried by Yahoo News. The felony complaint prosecutors filed on Oct. 5 lists 29 counts. The counts include four of stealing $25,000 or more and 10 of passing bad checks. None of the allegations has been proven, and KCTV5 reported that no court date had been set.

Police said four victims paid him more than $255,000 for work on businesses in town and that materials they paid for were never ordered. The largest job in the police affidavit is the renovation of Magnolia Mercantile downtown. Its owners accepted a $303,030 proposal and wrote 14 checks totaling $231,751.87 from December 2025 to April 2026. A city building official told investigators the project was cleared only for general cleanout and minor demolition.

Crews and trade partners lost money too, the affidavit says. A supervisor said two paychecks, for $4,500 and $5,000, came back unpaid. An electrical contractor's $7,035 check was returned, and an HVAC contractor says it is owed $2,804. A customer on another job picked nearly $24,000 in appliances through his Lowe's account, and the order was never placed.

In a May interview, the contractor told detectives he was in serious financial trouble and had used money meant for specific jobs to cover operating and personal costs, according to the affidavit. He denied meaning to cheat anyone.