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Texas, Crimes and Unregulated Building Industry
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Roof falls in on a promising builder

janetahmad5:43 PM
RocketMan: What do you think is funny about this story? Surly you’re not laughing at the victims; are you?

RocketMan
3:25 PM
Con man from step one...BUT are his fools any better? THEY invested after all! What a bunch of fools they are, folks! LOL!
   
Deporter2:50 PM 
@DaddyJ I went to High School with him and knew him personally. He was a slimeball back then too. I guess he "Accidentally" used $100,000 of someone else's money for his own pocket.
  
haveavoice10:42 AM
Don't know who erased my comment made yesterday - which provided his home address. But that info is public record, on bexar county site. his company built his home. probably has a lien against it now, if not, it should.
  
HENRY10:23 AM
Humor makes us forget the bad things that happen daily and they outnumber the good things.
  
HENRY8:59 AM
Did he have enough time to run for cover, when the roof fell? I hope he did because it sure would cost the tax payers a good sum of money to dig for him.
  
Smith6:50 AM
Saw the news.....builder ripped off a WWII Veteran. That soldier should be revered for his sacrifice and what he did for our freedom. We all owe him for fighting for our country. He is a hero. This is how Greg pays him back.....I guess there is no limit to how big of a scumbag this Greg Mikesell really is.
  
RocketMan
6:32 AM
Big Man Mike, the FOOL!
  
Village Idiot10:07 PM
I noticed that about his eyes. It almost looks like he has 1 eye. I can't trust anybody with 1 eye. I always feel like they are staring at me.
  
appler2222
9:53 PM
You can tell he is dishonest just by looking at his picture...his eyes are too close together. A sure sign of a person with few morals.
  
Democrat9:17 PM
The headline to the story sure is soft on words to this criminal.
  
u.s.a lover
8:24 PM
i say throw this sob in jail, make him pay everything he stoled, where he will get the money to pay that is his problem or keep him in jail for a long time, well in a way he is still scamming people and that is us the tax payers because now we have to feed him and shelter him, this sucks, what happent to charging criminals for their use of facilities when in jail?
  
satomtx8:17 PM
wow i almost got sent to bexar county jail for not paying homeowners dues..would haave served more time(3 days) than this pos.
 
SABO7:20 PM
hey Daddy J, obviously you didnt know Greg all that well... He definitely intentionally defrauded all these people just to support his life style. forging home owners signatures on draw requests to take draws from the bank and go to vegas sounds pretty intentional to me

janetahmad6:58 PM
District Attorney Susan Reed prosecuted Ruth Jones McClendon’s builder who was sentenced to 93-years in prison for fleece her for $20,000.00. It would be a total miscarriage of justice if Greg Mikesell, who stole hundreds of thousands from his many victims, is not prosecuted and sentenced to at least 93-years.

sbtdesigns6:06 PM
Sounds like your typical South Texas builder to me. I have two that owe me money to this day. Bad faith and bad practice with your customers and subcontractors will ruin you every time.

NeverAgain
5:19 PM
 Tha man doesn't have an honest bone in his body. We should have known that, but his reputation (at one time) was quite good. The drugs and greed got to him. Too many other people covered for him and enabled him to get away with money from hard working people who just wanted a home they could be proud of....now, many of those folks have only bad memories and are stuck in litigation - holding the bag for Mikesell's thievery.
 
DaddyJ4:43 PM
Will...not sure what you are referring to by: "A member of the same fraternity at the University of Texas at San Antonio ... always cheating and cutting corners ... you can mess around with drugs, you can drink, you can gamble and you can like women, but you can’t do all four and keep afloat” (Need we say more?) But I am member of the same UTSA faternity and I am married with a family, hold a good job and contribute in a positive to society with any of the 4 items mentioned above. Also I personally know Greg and while he has always been a bit reckless, his intentions were never to defraud others to my knowledge. Maybe instead of all the condemnations he could use all our prayers instead.
 
Citygal4:40 PM
I am so sick of hearing the pathetic apologies of thieves who hide behind their addictions. Quit trying to garner public sympathy. Sadly slick willies like this seem to always get away somehow... and find a new place to root - or is that rot?
 
Sir Bikesalot3:54 PM
The Texas environment and climate is too hard on a house. The clay soil is too expansive, causing slab fractures. The bedrock faults and shifts, the flora is too hardscrabble, the deer eat your landscaping, the heat dries up your lawn, it hails on your roof shingles, a tornado will blow the roof off entirely, the hurricane residuals will wash your driveway away, termites eat your framing, and the rabble will loot what's left, starting with your copper wiring. If your house survived all that, you still gotta worry about unscrupulous contractors like this galoot.

janetahmad
3:04 PM
Buying a new home in Texas is a huge risk, perhaps the riskiest state in the nation. Anyone can be a builder in Texas. This is the reason the Texas Residential Construction Commission, homebuilders’ protection agency was recently abolished. TRCC was designed as the “punishment phase of homeownership,” which facilitated builders like Greg Mikesell. Why would any builder in Texas care how they build a home in Texas if there are no consequences for their actions? GroverDill: As the president of a national consumer organization (HOBB.org) I couldn’t agree more …”Now, if we would only read the same about Gordon Hartman, KB, and the rest of them.”

Texan
3:00 PM 
Wonder if he knows the owner of Sunstone Custom Homes? Same thing with that guy! Owes everyone, homeowners not happy, etc. Still spending money, just not paying all the debts he has owed for the last 2 years. Anyone want his name?
 
Smith2:30 PM
 I bet he got some of that money he stole to somebody...maybe to his ex-wife to hide. There is no way he "blew" it all. The police need to investigate Tara Mikesell as well. I hope this guy really pays for what he did to all these people.
 
sa2:28 PM
I guess I have some front page news, cause I know plenty of high class, high integrity, high quality home builders around here. KB and those guys might build cheap or crappy houses, but I guarantee you they pay their contractors...Mikesell is not getting in trouble for building crappy houses, its because he owes people 100s of thousands of dollars, has multiple law suits and judgements against him and has basically stolen money from homeowners, banks and subcontractors alike.
 
GroverDill1:53 PM
Imagine that: A homebuilder builds trashy quality. Shocked, I tell ya'. Find me a builder who builds high quality and stands by it, and that would be front page news. What's refreshing about this story is that one of the builders is at least being held accountable. Now, if we would only read the same about Gordon Hartman, KB, and the rest of them, I'd be encouraged.

FrancesMA
1:22 PM
The roof didn't fall in on this guy. He brought it about by his behavior. Don't make him sound like a victim.
 
sa12:24 PM
Builders pick there subs and are in charge of them, so a builder who has crappy subs is in turn a crappy builder. The subs are not the builder, Definitive Custom Homes was the builder and was in charge of their subcontractors. I heard Alex Cabrera bought the bar from him, he also owns Suede and Bitter End. Needless to say, they know each other.
 
bilboinsa12:22 PM
OK...his house is right outside of 1604 off of Huebner. Mapquest it. There is a locked gate at Far Niente. Leave your signs and loving messages for the man--he probably isn't reading these comments. Rick James......LOVE IT!!! Deepest sympathies for those who lost out because of this scum. Don't blame our state. Do your homework when buying a house--don't go with the latest abd greatest. Never pre-pay too much at a time.
 
JP12:10 PM
He'll have a little siesta over in Huntsville if all the allegations are true.
 
Texasooner11:51 AM
I have heard about this guy for the last few years as being the worst guy in all of SA. As bad as he sounds in this article, it is not even half of the illegal stuff this guy is involved in. I know a few of his "business" partners that have told me unbelievable things about Greg Mikesell. Word on the street is that he is tied into The Grotto Bar where The Back Porch used to be at Stone Oak and Huebner. The dude is heartless, many of his customers worked their whole lives to buy their dream home and he not only screwed them on their homes, but many had to access their retirement money to finish out their homes and/or repair the damages. Hey Greg, Bernie Madoff called and he wants his morals back!
 
DiceQueso11:31 AM
Jeremy and Greg on the same page! Wow. True that.
 
cramirez11:30 AM
As a bank who lent money to this man - He was a complete con artist two years ago and there are many people who had to walk away from there house. How he, and those that helped him with this scam, are able to walk around free is beyond me. He took the money and laughed about it all the way to the bank.
 
DiceQueso11:26 AM
So who's opening the Grotto Bar where the Back Door (ha, I knows its Porch, but the "Door" seems more appropriate) used to be? I wonder if he got a piece of the sale or re-opening. So his sub-contractors sucked and they built crappy homes; if it wasn't them, would there really be any issues (besides drugs, Vegas, hoes)?
 
sa11:16 AM
how ironic, Mikesell's vegas going budddy Jeremy McGilvrey got arrested yesterday and both there pictures show up next to each other on the front page of the newspaper...karma
 
wearenotequal9:39 AM
"Cocaine's a helluva drug".....Rick James

olddude73
9:31 AM
Sounds like so many others that the roof falls in on. Money wipes out ethics in a hurry. A licensing at the state level for builders should be required, with immediate suspension at the first sign of sub-contractor liens, or a lawsuit. Builders have been successfully fighting against such a law for years now.

Sage
9:16 AM
"He said he no longer uses drugs or gambles." Gotta love it.
 
gh298:56 AM
Money-the root of all evil!

appler2222
8:37 AM
Is there something wrong with a "reformed" alcoholic? Should they be locked up, or banished from society? Might as well include people who have stopped smoking! No excuses for the "high roller" here...but today lack of responsibility is the rule rather than the exception.
 
bhs24698:11 AM
White drug users never go to jail? What have you been smoking?
 
Will7:56 AM
"A member of the same fraternity at the University of Texas at San Antonio ... always cheating and cutting corners ... you can mess around with drugs, you can drink, you can gamble and you can like women, but you can’t do all four and keep afloat” (Need we say more?)
 
rascal7:54 AM
Typical white drug user trash. Reminds me of Glenn Beck, the reformed alcoholic. I am surprised he is not in jail because he belongs there. However, white drug users never go to jail in Texas.
 
sa4life7:46 AM
Perhaps this story will educate others who are in promising careers. Live by good morals, integrity, and honesty, especially thru your business, and you'll go a long way. This guy really needs to get what's coming to him for what he did to those poor people.
 
Saytown7:43 AM
What a dumba$#@, he is getting what he deserves IMHO.
 
HENRY7:12 AM
Greed becomes the enemy because sometimes the people they hire ruin them.
 
fgcav16117:10 AM
And our legislators want to legalize gambling? Texas will become a "Zero Industrialized State"

HENRY
7:10 AM
Greed becomes the enemy of some and sometimes the people they hire ruin them.
 
AC6:46 AM
Without excusing Mikesell, it seems to be that the sub-contractors portrayed in this article as victims are the very same sub-contractors who actually installed bad and faulty tile, roofs, windows, framing, did painting. They don't deserved to be paid if they were also a part of the problem.
 
just country6:40 AM
just another story of moral standards in the youth of today. grow up without them and then live the same way without them..
 
zigtgr096:27 AM
Here is another one for the books for good ole San Antonio. Yeah, where is the District Attorney's office in enforcing and sinking their teeth into this white collar crime. Young punks like this one make you sick and he should have to spend his well-deserved opportunity to sit in jail for his flagrant disregard for people. He is just another one that probably ripped off his contractors and just having a grand ole time while your tools are getting ripped off by some, chasing to get your paycheck while he lives it up. There needs to be stiffer and much more prompt responses to these disgusting situations. Seems to be handled just like those that are not paying their child support and the Attorney Generals office somewhere in their thick heads think that if someone is behind in thousands of dollars in child support that if they are at least making an attempt of some piddly $20 or whatever that they are not considered delinquent they are just considered late. Well as best as I know it if my house payment, cable bill, telephone bill or anything else is not paid fully up to date then it is delinquent. I say OAG and DA office need to get tougher sooner and if the judge says if you do not adhere, you get your probation revoked and no in between. Too much slack cut to too many who are full of the bull.

Tedsgmc
4:53 AM
I think this is funny,This is what you get when you do "business" with someone this "young" and has a "champaigne" taste on a beer budget! Plus! I don't mean to throw more fuel into a fire, but Texas as a state is NOT one of your more "regulated" states when it comes home building. Texas is NOT a "home building" state, face it this is a "take the money and run" state. As far as ol'e Suessie Reed is concerned, she could care less since it was not her house involved and she isn't the one "ripped-off"!
 
mithawts2:50 AM
This is another area of corruption our state and local advocates fail to address time and time again. How many of these home builder/ re modeler rip off stories do we have to read before our state representatives do something about it. Why isn't that load mouth district attorney on her soap box for putting this one behind bars.
 
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