If you are new to this story, start with Part 1: The Great Con.

It has been a couple of weeks since my last update, I apologize for the delay, the legal portion of this story moves at a slower pace. Before I get into the update itself, we (my girlfriend and I) would like to thank a few people:

My co-workers have been crazy supportive, helping connect me with NPR and even going as far as raising money for me to fix up the house Reddit has been incredibly kind (and incredibly mean), providing advice and guidance in the legal process My friends and family, who are always supportive, even when I am not a victim of a fraudulent contractor.

So here is what is new:

There is a warrant out for Richard Chapman (photo below) if you see him, please contact the police. I am currently in the process of working on a story with NPR (KUT-Austin), which should be out in a couple of weeks or so. I received a note from Ann Kitchen and Attorney General Ken Paxton, they have received the packets I sent them and are sharing the case/complaint with both local authorities and legislators. The D.A. not only received my letter and acted on it quickly, but wrote back to me to discuss the matter. Two thumbs up. Over 3,500 people have read the story and over 100 people have shared it! Thank you!

Next steps are for me to file a civil lawsuit against both Dawn (business is in her name) and Richard Chapman, I am in no rush to do it, since there is a 4 year statute of limitation. I am also going to call the D.A. next week to request that metro police serve his warrant, so that I can have the pleasure of seeing him in court.

I do have some updates on the house and the progress we made. However, I do have one last note before we get to that. I spoke with one of Dawns sons, the one who “died”. He told me that Rick has been doing this for 20 years, he has fled California, Arizona, Utah and Kentucky. He told me that he worked for him (“family business”) for an entire summer and that he was never paid. He is not close with that part of the family, which is fortunate for him. As horrible as this situation is for me, I am so thankful that I was not born to such selfish, evil people. I am happy that he escaped that and appreciate the fact that he was willing to share his experience with me.

And finally, some pictures…

I will have a lot more photos soon, and will continue to update as the kitchen renovation gets underway. I will post the NPR story for those of you not in Austin, as soon as it comes out. Thank you everyone for the support, please continue to share this story, Rick (and others like him) are still out there scamming people.