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For years, a contractor has been scheming homeowners and businesses out of millions of dollars....
For years, a contractor has been scheming homeowners and businesses out of millions of dollars, depleting life savings and inflicting severe emotional distress. His victims wonder where they’ll get justice https://flatheadbeacon.com/2019/04/24/constructing-a-fraud/ … Great reporting from Myers Reece @FlatheadBeacon
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Constructing a Fraud
For years, a contractor has been scheming homeowners, businesses and racetracks out of millions of dollars, depleting life savings and inflicting severe emotional distress. His victims wonder where they’ll get justice.
BY MYERS REECE // APR 24, 2019
A contractor convicted of felonies over a decade ago in Wyoming for defrauding customers has revived his operations and moved across state lines, leaving behind more than 150 known victims across multiple states, with most in the greater Flathead Valley, although the number could be much higher, according to numerous interviews with victims and other detailed evidence examined by the Beacon.
A conservative calculation is that the contractor, Craig Draper, has taken over $2 million from the known victims, although that doesn’t account for the many additional hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on undoing and redoing Draper’s shoddy work and damage, refinancing loans, impact on credit and other expenses, along with emotional distress, which victims say has been the biggest price they’ve paid.
Draper was charged with four felonies for contractor-related crimes in 2005 and 2006 in Sweetwater County, Wyoming and convicted of conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretenses, according to court records. The illegal activity outlined in charging documents is identical to the descriptions of his clients’ experiences in Montana from 2016 to late 2018. Victims have also come forward in Wyoming, Washington and Idaho over the same time period. His business has been operating as Architectural Design and Innovations, referred to as ADI Builders.
While Draper has worked from the Bitterroot Valley to Helena to Billings, the center of his Montana activity has been the state’s northwest corner.
Members of the car-racing community also say Draper was simultaneously perpetuating another multi-faceted fraud as operator of the now-named Mission Valley Super Oval, bilking untold thousands of dollars from sponsors, suppliers, vendors and racers before disappearing late last fall, which is when his construction victims say he fell off the map.
....
If you enjoy stories like this one, please consider joining the Flathead Beacon Editor’s Club. For as little as $5 per month, Editor’s Club members support independent local journalism and earn a pipeline to Beacon journalists. Members also gain access to www.beaconeditorsclub.com, where they will find exclusive content like deep dives into our biggest stories and a behind-the-scenes look at our newsroom.
Constructing a Fraud
For years, a contractor has been scheming homeowners, businesses and racetracks out of millions of dollars, depleting life savings and inflicting severe emotional distress. His victims wonder where they’ll get justice.
BY MYERS REECE // APR 24, 2019
A contractor convicted of felonies over a decade ago in Wyoming for defrauding customers has revived his operations and moved across state lines, leaving behind more than 150 known victims across multiple states, with most in the greater Flathead Valley, although the number could be much higher, according to numerous interviews with victims and other detailed evidence examined by the Beacon.
A conservative calculation is that the contractor, Craig Draper, has taken over $2 million from the known victims, although that doesn’t account for the many additional hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on undoing and redoing Draper’s shoddy work and damage, refinancing loans, impact on credit and other expenses, along with emotional distress, which victims say has been the biggest price they’ve paid.
Draper was charged with four felonies for contractor-related crimes in 2005 and 2006 in Sweetwater County, Wyoming and convicted of conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretenses, according to court records. The illegal activity outlined in charging documents is identical to the descriptions of his clients’ experiences in Montana from 2016 to late 2018. Victims have also come forward in Wyoming, Washington and Idaho over the same time period. His business has been operating as Architectural Design and Innovations, referred to as ADI Builders.
While Draper has worked from the Bitterroot Valley to Helena to Billings, the center of his Montana activity has been the state’s northwest corner.
Members of the car-racing community also say Draper was simultaneously perpetuating another multi-faceted fraud as operator of the now-named Mission Valley Super Oval, bilking untold thousands of dollars from sponsors, suppliers, vendors and racers before disappearing late last fall, which is when his construction victims say he fell off the map.
....
If you enjoy stories like this one, please consider joining the Flathead Beacon Editor’s Club. For as little as $5 per month, Editor’s Club members support independent local journalism and earn a pipeline to Beacon journalists. Members also gain access to www.beaconeditorsclub.com, where they will find exclusive content like deep dives into our biggest stories and a behind-the-scenes look at our newsroom.
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