OLATHE, Kan. -- Customers who paid for furniture they didn't receive are one step closer to a refund. It's an unforgettable
Call For Action that led to a call to police nearly a year ago.
All we wanted were answers. While we were attacked getting those answers a year ago, victims got the answer they really wanted on Thursday. They got justice.
Last December, a masked man lunged toward Call For Action with a shovel hitting our camera and car.
He yelled, "I don't know what the hell's going on. Get the hell out of here."
This all started with a knock on the man's front door. Nobody answered. We were walking back toward our car, loading our equipment in the car when we saw and heard a masked man coming from the backyard yelling at us to get off his property. Even when we got inside our car and waited to back out onto busy Ward Parkway, the man continued to hit our car with a shovel.
We arrived at this home looking for Jeremy Skaggs. He sold furniture to customers but never delivered it.
Skaggs says it's his partner behind the mask, and not him.
Skaggs couldn't evade the law for long. Soon after our story aired,
Skaggs was arrested on felony theft charges related to claims made by victims during our report. He recently pled
guilty to 4 felonies, and Thursday Skaggs learned his fate.
Skaggs will spend 14 days in jail, and have to repay the victims $12,930.
We asked Skaggs a few questions while he was leaving court. "Is there anything you'd like to say to the victims? Are they going to get their money back?" Skaggs told he us he had no comment. His attorney and even an Assistant District Attorney handling this case both say restitution is a priority.
"Mr. Skaggs is very motivated to pay, and if he does not pay he will end possibly being incarcerated," Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Riebly said.
Due to that motivation, the D.A. dropped the other nine charges. Skaggs is still required to re-pay those victims. If he doesn't pay restitution, Skaggs could face 21 months in prison.
"We felt four felonies was sufficient to have enough time hanging over his head so he would be motivated to pay the victims," Riebly said.
Skaggs' attorney told the judge Skaggs was immature, but has great family support. Skaggs' mother showed up for the sentencing. He has a job, and his attorney believes Skaggs' maturity is "starting to blossom." Skaggs' attorney went on to say his client learned his lesson.
There is a lesson for all consumers to learn. Most of the victims paid cash upfront after Skaggs showed them photographs of the furniture he was selling.
"Make sure you see the property before you enter into these deals, because this is how so many people get burned," Riebly said.
Thursday's sentence requires that victims be repaid over the next year.
The courts will get paid first. Generally, the victims are paid one-by-one.
If you've been ripped off and need results like this, let me know. E-mail
strathman@nbcactionnews.com or call our volunteers Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at (816) 932-4321.
