OKLAHOMA CITY – A third round of criminal charges was filed Sept. 15 against a contractor who allegedly received nearly $170,000 from 25 Oklahomans in five counties in exchange for construction projects he never completed.
Michael Steven Hanson Jr., 42, of Edmond is now named in 24 felony counts of embezzlement, one misdemeanor count of embezzlement and one count of racketeering.
The Consumer Protection Unit of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office began investigating a consumer fraud case involving Hanson last November after receiving several complaints. As a result of that probe, Hanson was charged Oklahoma County District Court with nine counts of embezzlement and one count of pattern of criminal offenses.
Subsequently 12 more victims contacted Attorney General John O’Connor’s office with complaints similar to those of the first nine victims. And this month another four victims came forward with similar complaints.
Investigators allege Hanson used his company, Leaders Construction LLC, to solicit customers. At least 18 of them hired Hanson to build fences and/or a retaining wall; others hired him for concrete projects, to build a greenhouse, or for residential repairs.
Hanson required partial payments up front. It is alleged he then refused to complete the projects and also refused to refund the homeowners’ payments.
Hanson stole $169,556 from the 25 victims in Oklahoma, Cleveland, Grady, Canadian and Lincoln counties, an amended information document reflects.
A Piedmont man said he was swindled out of $52,255 that he paid Hanson up front to complete a fence, construct a concrete pad and sidewalks, and erect a shop building on his property. The only work performed on the project was that some of the fence posts were set, “but the quality was poor,” the homeowner told investigators.
An Edmond woman said she paid Hanson $23,000 in cash – most of which came from her retirement fund – to perform some residential improvements. Hanson did install a handrail for her patio, except for a post cap. But he failed to screen in her patio, never installed a water system she paid for up front and ripped out the tile flooring throughout her home but never replaced it, investigators learned.
A Yukon man told investigators he paid Hanson $13,900 in cash up front to complete a fence and a retaining wall on his property. Neither Hanson nor anyone else from Leaders Construction ever even started work on the project, the victim said.
An Edmond man reported identical circumstances, with the exception that he was cheated out of $12,927.
A Tuttle woman paid Hanson $7,800 to build a fence on her property, but neither Hanson nor anyone from Leaders Construction “has ever returned to (the) residence to start or complete the project as agreed,” an investigator reported.
If Hanson were convicted on the two biggest embezzlement counts, which combined total more than $75,000 in alleged thefts, he could be sentenced to eight years in prison and fined $10,000. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, he could be sentenced to a year in the Oklahoma County jail and fined $1,000.
Investigator Eric S. VanGurp of the CPU contends in an affidavit that the 24 counts of felony embezzlement amount to a pattern of racketeering activity and that by conducting these activities through his association with Leaders Construction LLC, Hanson violated the Oklahoma-Racketeering-Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act.
Oklahoma’s RICO statute violations carry a minimum 10-year prison sentence upon conviction. A violator is not eligible for a deferred sentence, probation, suspension, work furlough or release from confinement “on any other basis” until the convict has served at least half of the sentence.
Additionally, a violator who derives pecuniary value from his or her crimes can be required to pay three times the gross value gained or triple the gross loss those actions caused.
Hanson has been free from custody on $150,000 bond, but that bond was exonerated on Sept. 15 pending a new bail hearing.
The attorney general’s Consumer Protection Unit was assisted in its investigation by the Edmond Police Department and the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, O’Connor said.