JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Update: Monday, Nov. 8 at 7:45 p.m
The Tiede family said Monday that they are just interested in getting the money returned.
“One of the incredible things that I have found in this job is the number of senior citizens who are taken advantage of in our state, and one of the things we really concentrate on is making sure that this AG's office is out there trying to protect seniors," Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said. "This is one of the most egregious cases in the two years I've been here.”
Koster also saif this case really stood out in his office because of the size of the alleged "rip-off" and that a senior citizen is out tens of thousands of dollars.
"A lot of fraud cases settle out of court, most of them are brought civilly but this one has become such a high profile case, Channel 13 brought it to us, that this one is going to go criminally, and I wouldn't be surprised if this one doesn't go the distance," Koster said. "And we look for very serious, probably jail time penalties."
In October, Terry Phelps said he was going to return about half of the money to Tiede but that never happened.
The Marion County Sheriff's Department said Phelps bonded out of jail with $50,000 early Monday morning.
Original Story:
A Maries County man is charged with consumer fraud after defrauding a Vichy man for substandard work.
Terry Wayne Phelps, 36, was charged by Attorney General Chris Koster with one count of unlawful merchandising fraud.
Phelps is accused of selling asphalt and paving services to Walter Tiede, 82, for $56,000.
The charges allege that Phelps misrepresented the paving service to Tiede by not disclosing an estimate and the value of the work was worth $56,000.
“Consumers should be very cautious when approached by people selling home improvement services door-to-door,” Koster said in a news statement. “Unfortunately, there are always those who will take advantage of unsuspecting consumers, but scammers should be assured that this office will aggressively pursue anyone who tries to defraud vulnerable, trusting Missourians out of their hard-earned money.”
If convicted, Phelps faces up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Phelps ‘ bond has been set at $50,000.
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