A Missouri contractor pled guilty in Texas County Circuit Court Tuesday to charges of taking almost $50,000 from a customer to install an “off-grid” solar energy system and then failing to do any work.
The same contractor has been in trouble in Baxter County for his involvement in the construction of a “luxury RV park.”
According to court records, most of the numerous lawsuits against Eddie Brian Sides in Arkansas and Missouri are civil suits filed in Missouri.
The case in Texas County, Mo., however, involves two criminal charges — stealing and deceptive business practices.
In the Texas County case, Sides was put on probation for five years and ordered to repay the money he took from the victim. According to the judgment and order for restitution filed in the case, Sides is to repay the money in monthly payments of no less than $500.
The criminal case was opened after a two-count indictment was handed down by a Texas County Grand Jury in late March last year charging Sides with stealing and unlawful business practices.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, a victim contacted the Texas County Sheriff’s Office in late October 2023 and reported prepaying slightly more than $49,000 to have Sides install solar panels and other equipment at his home.
The victim said the payment was made in May of 2022, that work never started and that Sides had not paid the victim back any of the money.
According to the probable cause statement, Sides had six months to either start work on the project or return the money and he did neither.
Investigators report that they contacted Sides and were told that the victim’s money had been used to buy materials. It was noted that no materials had been delivered to the job site.
The victim was shown a photo lineup and picked Sides as the person he had hired to do the solar panel work.
The other cases filed in Missouri basically allege the same situation. Sides initially popped on the radar when he was accused of taking money from elderly victims of the Joplin tornado to do roof repair and then failing to do the work and not repaying the money.
Many of the victims who have brought civil suits and won judgments against Sides and his wife are not optimistic they will ever see the return of any of the money that Sides allegedly took from them.
JUDGMENT IN BAXTER COUNTY CASE
A judgment of $334,000 has been lodged against Sides in a Baxter County civil case.
The Baxter County case involved a number of allegations that Eddie Brian Sides and his wife, Stacy, misappropriated assets belonging to the Whispering Oaks Luxury RV Park development to benefit themselves.
Construction on the park was eventually stopped and the Baxter County couple was authorized by the court to liquidate assets of the former partnership to pay vendors and contractors who were owed for their work.
It was recently announced that the property has been sold to a local group.
MORE CRIMINAL CHARGES
According to electronic court records on Missouri CaseNet, Sides faces charges of deceptive business practices and financial exploitation of an elderly or disabled person in Taney County. He is alleged to have taken an unknown amount of money from a 60-year-old victim to install solar panels and related equipment but failed to live up to any of his promises.
He is due in court in Taney County to be arraigned on the charges in late February.
According to electronic court documents, the Taney County case is being prosecuted by the Missouri Attorney General’s office and the Taney County prosecuting attorney.
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