Dane County launches criminal fraud investigation as complaints pile up against Sun Badger Solar
The Dane County Sheriff's office this week launched a criminal investigation into the business practices of Sun Badger Solar, a Waukesha solar installer that shut down in January.
The business left dozens of customers across the state with unfinished or unstarted projects. Many of those customers are now trying to recover thousands of dollars paid in advance.
The Dane County investigation was launched in response to five specific complaints of theft by contractor, said Elise Schaefer, spokeswoman for the Dane County Sheriff's office. The complaints allege the customers paid a combined $165,000 for work that was not completed, she said.
Complaints about the company have been filed by customers around the state with local law enforcement, the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Wisconsin Better Business Bureau since Sun Badger ceased operation, shut down its offices, laid off its staff, and stopped communicating with them in January.
As of late March, the consumer protection department had received 77 complaints about Sun Badger, according to documents obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel through an open records request. Customers who made down payments claimed they were out anywhere from $10,000 to nearly $90,000 for work that either wasn't started or wasn't completed. Others who had taken out loans complained that work wasn't completed or that Sun Badger's subcontractors and suppliers, who had not been paid, completed the work but were threatening to place a lien on their property.
Similar complaints have been lodged with state and local enforcement agencies in Illinois and Minnesota, where the company also had offices.
Sun Badger had been a successful and growing company before its financial problems mounted last year, others in the industry have said. Many of the customers now stuck in limbo have said they signed up with the company based on recommendations from its past customers.
Schaefer said Dane County detectives are gathering information and will begin working with the consumer protection department as the investigation of the Dane County complaints progress. Because so many complaints have been filed in different counties, she expects the investigations will eventually be combined "rather than having everyone repeat the same work."
"It's not just a Dane County issue," she said. "It's happening in other counties — it'll probably become a statewide investigation."
Meanwhile, default judgements totaling nearly $200,000 have been granted against Sun Badger by circuit courts in Waukesha and Winnebago counties after the company failed to respond to civil cases filed by unpaid contractors and suppliers. Judgements also have been granted in two small claims cases filed by former customers, and the Wisconsin Department of Revenue has filed a tax warrant seeking $98,526.68 in unpaid taxes.
Sun Badger President Trevor Sumner declined to comment, referring questions to the his lawyer, Brian Fahl.
Fahl, of the Milwaukee law firm Kravit, Hovel & Krawczy, said that, as Sumner's personal lawyer, he was not in a position to discuss the Dane County investigation or the consumer protection department's complaints against Sun Badger.
However, he said, Sumner has been working with other solar contractors to find a way to make Sun Badger's customers whole and complete their work.
"Trevor, as an officer of Sun Badger, is working diligently to provide a solution for customers whose solar projects, regrettably, were not completed," Fahl said. "He hopes to be able to communicate with those customers in the near future about the solution, which will include construction and completion of their projects, by other solar providers."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Dane County investigating fraud complaints against Sun Badger Solar
