Post from Mary's Comment

The following is a comment from Mary that was left on my original post.....

I am also a victim of Steve Pannell and I have spoken with numerous people in Chattanooga and Alabama who have been scammed by him. His scam on me was a bit different than this one listed. I have spoken with other women he scammed that experienced a very similar con. Basically, he asked me out for lunch and we started dating. He told me after several dates that he was still in fact married but very close to a divorce from his wife Billie. He said they had been separated for almost a year due to her alcoholism and his divorce would be final within the month. During the course of dating, I introduced him to several of my friends and relatives.

He said he was a licensed contractor in 7 states and was very proud of the work he was doing selling log homes. His business partner in St. Augustine FL spoke with me on the phone about their business also. He said that he was in this area to develop a show room for the log homes and remodeling kitchens. He said that his company needed someone who would like to remodel their kitchen at cost so that he could use the before and after pictures for their website and show rooms.

He asked me if I knew of anyone who might be interested. I introduced him to several friends. I gave him the legitimacy he wanted because I was dating him. Of course my friends trusted him and even though the deal sounded too good to be true, they trusted me not to bring a criminal and theif into their lives.

He took my friends money and started work on their homes (all without a contractor's license mind you). After the demolition was underway, he took their money and ran, leaving the subcontractors with no other recourse than to place leins on these friends homes.

All the while he was taking my friends money, he was telling me he wanted to move here permanently to be with me. He took me to look at 3 million dollar homes and actually put an offer in on several.

He has robbed my family and friends of over $140,000 in a few months. He has left damage and destruction in so many people's lives.

We received a phone call from a local man in town who was suing Steve for doing the exact same thing to him 5 years earlier. This man lost $14,000 on a home remodel job because of Steve. This man provided me with many names and phone numbers of people Steve had stolen from 5 years before. I called several of these people and the scam is always the same with a slight difference here or there.

This one widow I spoke with broke my heart. Steve knew she was recently widowed and took over $20,000 from her, all the while professing his love for her.

He scams on the elderly, the widowed and divorced women and basically anyone those people know.

The fraud department here does not prosecute this crime because it is basically a civil matter for which all the victims must sue him.

He has nothing in his own name and deals totally in cash and checks.

Lowe's has a $2,500 bad check from him they are prosecuting him for here in town. Also, many people involved have filed passing worthless check charges against him here in Chattanooga.

I hope that this blog and the other reports being posted on Steve Pannell will at least help the computer savy people be protected from him.