Man facing grand theft charge after allegedly not finishing work he was paid for
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BLACKFOOT — A 42-year-old American Falls man is being charged after allegedly taking $35,000 from a customer who paid him and his business to get work done but did not finish it.
Brett Hensley is facing a felony grand theft charge for an incident last year. The criminal case was filed in early April this year. A summons was issued for him to appear at the Bingham County courthouse this week.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by the Blackfoot Police Department, back in September 2022, a woman said she had given Hensley two separate payments for a total of $35,000. Hensley is the owner of Them Dang Builders LLC.
She told police Hensley had done no work. Court documents don’t specify what kind of work was supposed to be done, but his company had built shops in the past.
The victim provided copies of two checks that made out to Them Dang Builders LLC. One payment was made in February 2022 for $17,500, and the other in August 2022 for $17,500.
Both checks were cashed at a credit union and signed by Hensley on the back, court documents say.
In January, the Power County sheriff received copies of text messages between Hensley’s wife and another victim.
His wife had texted to the woman, “I am so sorry for what we have done. We are trying to get it figured out. We are working with lawyers right now. We are going to pay it back and make things right with people we know,” court documents say.
The first victim provided text messages, too. They were between herself and Hensley in Sept. 2022 and asked, “So where is all the money you have taken from everyone and no supplies to show for it, I don’t get it Brett.”
He responded, in part, “Inflation, the materials went up so high that I had used it for other builds. I couldn’t get a line of credit because my business is so new. So I have loans out of everywhere trying to make things work and it has buried me … Everyone’s building should’ve been 50% more than I quoted including yours,” court documents said.
As of February of this year, there had been no work done and no supplies bought for the victim, court documents said.
According to court records, in October 2022, Hensley personally filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and Them Dang Builders LLC is listed as an asset.
In documents, there are names of multiple people waiting for work to be done, but it’s listed as “business debt for unfinished work,” and “business debt with potential personal liability for unfinished work.”
The grand theft charge is punishable by up to 14 years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. Hensley is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 18 at 8:30 a.m. at the Bingham County Courthouse.