A former area contractor accused of taking about $90,000 from area homeowners to fund construction projects and doing little or no work, not buying materials or paying subcontractors appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Fifty-year-old Jimmy William Cagle of Lakeview pled guilty to theft of property charges filed against him in Baxter and Marion Counties.
A plea deal was worked out with the goal of ensuring the victims were repaid. Cagle was reported to have turned in $9,000 Monday and was ordered to begin repaying the rest at a monthly rate of $600 for the Baxter County cases and $150 for the Marion County case.
He will be on supervised probation for 20 years so that his compliance with the victim repayment plan can be monitored.
Circuit Judge John Putman said he was reluctant to accept the plea. He told Cagle, “Getting victims repaid is important, but you hurt a lot of people, put people in a financial bind.”
In December 2020, Cagle was alleged to have agreed to enclose the deck of a residence located along Baxter County Road 15 and convert it into a sunroom.
According to the probable cause affidavit, after the deal was struck, Cagle was initially given a check for almost $10,800.
Cagle was alleged not to have done any work by February 2021. He was reported to have offered several excuses for the delay.
He called the homeowners in July 2021 saying he needed extra funds to purchase materials for the roof.
The victims gave him an additional check for $6,200.
No work was started even after the extra funds were provided. The victims told investigators Cagle continued to offer reasons — including a death in his family and manpower shortages – as to why the project had not been launched.
At one point, the victims said Cagle dropped off a small amount of building material at the residence but left with no work being done.
Investigators were told the victims last contact with Cagle was in late September 2021. They continued to try and reach out to him after that date, but he would not answer calls nor return messages.
The victims were told that Cagle’s contractor’s license had expired in late July 2021, and the Arkansas Contractors’ Licensing Board confirmed the information.
In addition, other jurisdictions in the area were found to have incident reports on Cagle alleging “fraudulent business practices.”
An investigator with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office reported contacting Cagle in late October 2021 and being told that “several issues had come up” preventing him from starting work on one of the contracted projects.
The investigator told Cagle it would be to his benefit if he reached out to the victims and worked an agreement out.
Cagle is reported to have sent a text to the victims on November 1, 2021, promising “to have your money back within three weeks in full.”
The promise was not kept.
In May 2021, Cagle was hired by the owners of a property along Red Bud Lane in Gassville.
The project called for the building of a new deck at a cost of $52,000. He received a check for $20,000 to pay for materials and to pay subcontractors.
Three different subcontractors were hired. When their work was completed, the subcontractors submitted bills. It was expected they would be paid from the initial $20,000 given to Cagle. But, at the time the probable cause affidavit was written last year, none of the contractors had been paid and Cagle had done no additional work at the site.
In August 2021, property owners reported they had contracted with Cagle to replace a sunroom roof at a property along Nubbin Ridge Road and to do other construction work at a residence along Lone Tree Drive in Lakeview.
Cagle was given a check for $3,500 in August but no material was delivered to the Nubbin Ridge property.
In addition, Cagle asked for several other checks to cover materials for the Lakeview project. The owners wrote checks for almost $39,000. They asked Cagle to get receipts for the purchases, but he failed to provide even one, according to the probable cause affidavit.
It was discovered during the investigation that he had gone to a local building supply company in late November 2021 and purchased slightly more than $2,100 worth of material. Those materials were delivered to the Lakeview project, but Cagle’s check written to the building supply company on a bank account in his name bounced.
CHARGES IN MARION COUNTY
On August 3, 2021, a couple reported to the Marion County Sheriff’s office that they had hired Cagle to act as general contractor on a project to build the couple a new home.
After giving Cagle two checks to be used to pay subcontractors for their work, one of the victims was contacted by a plumber and told he had not been paid by Cagle for the work he had done on the new house.
The victim said he contacted Cagle to find out why the plumbing contractor had not been paid and was told by Cagle that he had used money from one of the checks to “pay some personal bills.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim paid the plumbing contractor about $11,400 to prevent a mechanics’ lien being placed on the new home.
PROMISES TO REPAY
Cagle told the Marion County victims he had funds coming in from other projects and would repay the money.
The victim gave Cagle two months to make good on his word before they went to the police, but no repayment was ever made, according to the probable cause affidavit.
As in Baxter County, Cagle is also charged with theft of property in Marion County.
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