Minot Man Facing Theft By Deception Charges

A Minot man was charged at South Central District Court with working without a license and theft by deception on Tuesday. 

Brandon James Basinger, 33, faces the charges after he signed a contract with a Ruso woman in June to install a 50-by-100-by-16-foot building. The woman, who remains unnamed, found Basinger's contracting business on Craig's List.

In addition to signing the contract, the woman wrote Basinger a check for a down payment in the amount of $15,465.45.

Two subsequent checks were written over the next month: one for $15,000 to finish the concrete work, and another for $10,000 "in order to make the building available by July 7," the Bismarck Tribune reports.

In an affidavit, Chief Deputy J.R. Kerzmann of the McLean County Sheriff's Department states that the woman “said she was very confused, one day it looked like [Basinger] would have the ground ready, then the next day it was all tore up, ruts where the building was going to go.”

After failing to show for appointments, leaving his client's calls unanswered and pushing back deadlines on multiple occasions, "the concrete never arrived and neither did Basinger." That was when the client contacted the Sheriff's office.

Calls to Perka Buildings, the Missouri-based business from which Basinger claimed to have ordered the structure, revealed that they had given him a quote, but a deal was never made with him.

When the woman contacted her bank, she learned that her checks had been immediately cashed, not deposited.

After police called on Basinger at his Minot home, he fessed up to working without a license and agreed to finish work on the building, then continued making excuses for delays until he was charged on Monday.

A preliminary hearing and arraignment are scheduled for September 17, at South Central District Court.