A contractor facing a number of lawsuits over claims he began work but never completed it was arrested last week on felony theft charges.
Stephen Burch, of Mineral Wells, was arrested Wednesday, bonding out the same day from the Parker County jail on charges that stem from a job he was hired to do beginning in October of 2021.
Sheryl and Jason Hammett, of Weatherford, filed a lawsuit against Burch and his company, then Stalworth Construction, after the couple reportedly paid him $133,000 to complete a metal residential building.
Sheryl Hammett told the Weatherford Democrat previously, that 10 months after they contracted with Burch, they were left with a structure that wasn’t fully enclosed, had no windows and lacked 80% of the electrical work needed.
“We realized something was horribly wrong and we were gonna have to get as much work as we could out of him before we fired him,” she said. “We were almost a year into the project and it should’ve been done months and months ago.”
Hammett said Burch approached her in August of 2022 to ask for more money.
“And I said, ‘but you haven’t done what you said you would do before we paid you more money ... we’re not going to give you more money,’” she said. “’You need to do what you said you were going to do before we write you another check.’”
According to Hammett, they never saw Burch again, and eventually sought an attorney after the contractor stopped responding to calls and texts.
The probable cause affidavit from last week’s arrest notes the Hammetts paid Burch $133,894.20 of the total build price of $196,157 by January 2022.
The investigator wrote he reviewed the list of work not completed and materials not purchased with the associated costs and determined the amount to be $25,000 owed to the Hammetts for those areas.
“Affiant also reviewed the bank records of Stephen Ray Burch and found misapplication of trust funds in the amount of $38,914.24 when the Hammett check was not deposited into a construction account,” the investigator wrote. “Affiant observed that Stephen Ray Burch diverted funds from the business account on numerous occasions for personal use or purchases.”
The investigator reportedly spoke to Burch, who admitted to the list of of work not completed and materials not purchased, and that he stopped communications with the couple and “was unable to complete the build due to not being able to pay the subcontractors,” according to the affidavit.
Burch was arrested on a similar charge out of Hood County in January, though Granbury officials have refused to release information regarding the arrest.
The contractor and his company, Stalworth Construction, have been named in a series of civil actions in recent years, both in Parker and Palo Pinto counties.
Two homeowners in Mineral Wells filed a case in February of 2023, after they entered into a contract with Stalworth for construction of a stairway in July 2022, according to court documents. The amount of the contract for construction was $29,770, with a required down payment of $19,770.
The plaintiffs were informed by Burch that they would receive a $1,500 discount if the contract amount was paid in full, which the homeowners agreed to do, according to the lawsuit.
The homeowners allege they didn’t hear from Burch until 10 days later, and were continually given excuses on why nothing was built.
Burch was ordered to pay $350,000 in a default judgement signed by Palo Pinto County District Judge Mike Moore in January, which included the recovery of $347,000 in actual damages, more than $5,600 in attorney fees and court costs and an interest at the rate of 18% per year from the date of judgement until paid against Stephen Burch and Stalworth Construction LLC.
Burch told the Weatherford Democrat he closed his business last October after six years of operation. The business listing on the Texas Comptroller website noted Stalworth Construction LLC’s right to transact business in the state had “involuntarily ended.”
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