Another customer claims to be scammed by Cole County contractor

Mid-Missouri contractor Ken Jinson pleaded not guilty to defrauding customers in Cole County Court Tuesday.

Jinson is accused of stealing a total of $22,000 from four customers in Cole County.

Tuesday, another one of those customers in the case spoke to ABC 17 News. Jefferson City resident Casey Allen said he and his wife Anita paid Jinson about $1,000 to build a storage shed in their yard, but it was never started.

After talking to Allen, ABC 17 noticed there were multiple similarities between his story and one of Jinson’s other customers that had already spoken out.

Allen said he and his wife found Jinson on a Facebook group when they were looking to build the shed in the spring of 2014.

“I noticed he was on Facebook advertising that he could do, he could build sheds, work on decks, I mean multiple items for people and it was all custom work,” Allen said.

That is the same way Russellville resident Douglas Bledsoe told ABC 17 he found Jinson who promised to build a shed in his backyard.

Allen said he did not give Jinson all the money for the project at first.

“I gave him 500 first just as a good-faith payment,” Allen said. “Then a couple months went by and he said his, it was a nailing gun or something broke down and he didn’t have any tools. So I gave him the money to go ahead and you know supposedly buy more wood and the nailing gun.”

Bledsoe also told ABC 17 in February he only paid Jinson a for a portion of the project until Jinson claimed his pickup broke down and needed more money to finish the job.

Both Allen and Bledsoe also said Jinson sent them picutres of a shed’s frame, but claimed he could not get it to their homes because he did not have a large enough truck.

ABC 17 News asked Allen if he thought Jinson ever did actually intend to build the shed.

“No,” Allen said. “I think what he does is he, you know, he does just enough to get by just to make the customer feel you know comfortable.”

Jinson also reportedly promised to build teardrop campers for two other people, but he never followed through according to court documents.

Jinson declined to comment to ABC 17 after his court appearance Tuesday. He is set to appear in court again in August on the theft and deceptive business practice charges.