By Tammy Curtis, Publisher
Charges continue to come in against Gerald Helcher “Sam” Stellar, the Fulton County Construction company owner of Stellar Construction in Salem, Arkansas. While being held on a $20,000 cash only bond in the Fulton County Detention Center after passing an over $11,000 bad check to Viola based All Steel for materials, two more felony warrants have been issued for theft by deception.
In the first case, Curren Everett paid $13,000 cash from an insurance check for hail damage to his property in Salem. The repairs have not been completed after nearly two months.
Stellar’s bond was set $5,000 cash or professional in this case.
In a second case, Stellar was hired five to six months ago to complete a bathroom repair for Veteran’s Affairs to make it more handicap assessable. Representative Larry Ayling with Veterans Affairs stated he required them to pay him $2,000 up front for materials. Three months later he required an additional $2,600 payment for materials. After paying Stellar $4,600 the job is still incomplete.
Sheriff Mark Counts called this news agency on Tuesday and asked about information obtained regarding Stellar.The sheriff confirmed he has a pending case from a couple who also reported their damages in the original post asking for complaints. Their alleged amount of this couple’s damages and payments to Stellar are aound totaling $172,000 for a home construction in Ash Flat. Charges on this case have not yet been turned over to the prosector in Sharp County.
This news agency has had over 60 complaints about Stellar resulting in over a half million dollars in alleged payments and incomplete or shoddy work by the company in the last year to year in a half. The complaints have came from customer’s of Stellar Construction in every county surrounding Fulton County. So far, there are also civil cases filed in Fulton and Oregon County, Missouri, with one pending in Baxter County this week. An additional 8-10 of the complainants stated to this news agency they plan to file suits in civil and criminal cases against Stellar. These are both former clients and employees.
To date, the Arkansas Contractor’s board investigator is attempting to keep track of all of the alleged scams by Stellar and has already filed an injunction with the Arkansas Attorney General against Stellar and his company.
A parole hold was also issued against Stellar on the hot check case, the board released the hold yesterday, Sept. 15, but as of 11 a.m. today, Sept. 16 after the new charges were filed, the hold has been reinstated.
Anyone who has not come forward is encouraged to do so to get an accurate representation on the damages done by this company to the area. They are also encouraged to report their complaints to not only law enforcement in your area, but also to contact the Arkansas State Contractor’s Board and Attorney General’s office.
Photo/Fulton County Sheriff’s Department