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SALT LAKE CITY – An Idaho man who was bilked out of $10,000 in a Utah construction scheme spoke out Thursday as the man who is accused of taking the money appeared in court.
Derek Johanson is accused of stealing skid steers and then selling them to innocent buyers. He's been arrested and convicted multiple times for construction thefts.
The KSL Investigators recently revealed that several families got scammed.
While Derek Clark Johanson now faces multiple felony charges for selling stolen construction equipment to unwitting Utahns, his alleged victims argue he's been given too many chances by the judicial system.
"I think he'll just get right back out," said Steve Waechtler.
Like countless other alleged victims, Waechtler needed earth-moving equipment for his work. "I run a small business in Idaho," he said.
He called about a skid steer he found online back in 2020. He said Derek Johanson was selling it.
"He needed to free some money because his wife was in the hospital, she had an illness," Waechtler said.
Waechtler and his wife said they believed Johanson and decided to meet him in person.
"We pulled up, he's in the skid steer. He's operating that thing like a professional," Waechtler said.
Before they sealed the deal they talked to him for two hours. Then they ran the serial number and asked for identification.
"It came back clean," Waechtler said. "Did a notarized bill of sale in front of the notary in the bank. She looked at his ID, it was a paper ID." Waechtler said he also called in the license plates, which showed they were not stolen.
Waechtler felt like he checked every box so he drove off with his $10,000 purchase.
"My friend calls me back and says, 'I think that skid steer is stolen.' And I said, 'Boy, this is the sickest joke.'"
Waechtler said his friend, who is a police officer, noticed something.
"He says, 'I just got this caseload across my messages on my desk'; and he says, 'That looks like the skid steer that you called in. It's the same model, it's the same make but the serial number is not correct.'"
Waechtler said a few digits on the serial number were off, but it turned out to be the same stolen skid steer. "Somewhere along the line, a serial number was recorded wrongly."
Waechtler said he's tried to warn others about the scheme so they don't fall victim to what he said are Johanson's tricks.
"(They) said that he would pay people back, said he was going to reform. What a bunch of garbage," Waechtler added.
Johanson has a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 6.
