John William Crites Jr., owner of Allegheny Wood Products, has been charged with "obtaining goods by means of false pretenses" in a criminal complaint filed in Hardy County Magistrate Court, according to a report by WCHSTV.
Allegheny Wood Products, a lumber producer and supplier to wood flooring mills, abruptly shut its doors on Feb. 23, leaving approximately 850 people without jobs. Since then, two lawsuits have been filed against the company: one by United Bank for $40.5 million for unpaid loans, and one by an employee seeking a class-action lawsuit in federal court for not giving proper notice of mass layoffs.
In the criminal complaint, Crites is accused of purchasing more than $36,000 worth of lumber from two loggers with a bank account that had been frozen. Deputies began getting complaints in late February from a victim who said a check written to him from Allegheny Wood Products for more than $26,000 was returned because the account was closed, the complaint said. A second victim reported the same issue for a nearly $10,000 check.
“For valid reasons, people are angry. Yet, a company not paying bills after a bank seizes its money doesn’t rise to the level of a criminal case,” the attorney for Crites said in a statement, according to WCHSTV. “This is a civil matter. Creditors are trying to use the criminal justice system to skip line in the federal civil action. The criminal charges should be dismissed.”
