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PROVO — Drew Nelson said he was "financially devastated" when he put a deposit down on a trailer at Mobi1 Expedition Trailers, a Springville camping trailer company.
Nelson had a new family at the time in August 2018, a soon-to-be fiancee and two stepchildren, and they had plans for vacations with that trailer. What he ended up with was a high interest loan for a $30,000 deposit on the trailer; he made payments on the loan for over five years, despite never receiving the trailer.
"The money that I lost was not money that I had to lose," he said.
He told 4th District Judge Derek Pullan on Tuesday that he lost financial trust and the ability to fulfill the plans he had made.
Harrison Ashley Grimes, 28, was sentenced to between one and 15 years in prison for communications fraud, a second-degree felony, but that sentence was suspended in favor of 30 days in jail and three years of probation supervised by the court.
Grimes said at his sentencing that he took a job working for his parent's company, Mobi1 Expedition Trailers, while he was in school because it was a good opportunity, but he didn't imagine the company would have failed, and was devastated when it did. He said he was "extremely remorseful" that people lost money when it failed.
"I never imagined that my life would end up with me standing in front of you," he told Pullan. "I have always done everything that I could to help the people around me and to be of service and to not be a burden to society or to the people who care for me."
According to charging documents, the Utah Division of Consumer Protection received 40 complaints from customers who claimed they made substantial down payments but never received their trailer or a refund. From April 2015 through December 2018, the company collected more than $888,000 in deposits "for trailers that were never delivered to the customer," the charges state.
Pullan said a jury convicted Grimes of communications fraud for actions associated with Drew Nelson, but the jury acquitted him on multiple other charges. He was initially charged with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity and 11 counts of communications fraud, both second-degree felonies, but was only convicted on one charge.
The judge said that Nelson contacted Mobi1 when it was "in its last breath of existence" and Grimes at that time would have known the company could not deliver on the promise he made to Nelson. He said Grimes knew enough to have "acted recklessly" when making representations to Nelson.
"By that time it was clear to any objective observer that Mobi1 Trailers could not deliver the trailer to Mr. Nelson as promised," Pullan said.
Pullan denied a request from Harrison Grimes to rule that there was not enough evidence presented at the trial for the jury to find Harrison Grimes guilty of the charge on Sept. 12.
Pullan said Grimes' father, Benjamin Ashley Grimes, of Springville, "believed in the business recklessly — far too long — (and) really was the primary author" of the plan "to deprive others of money on the promise of trailers that Mobi1 could never deliver."
Pullan said initially Harrison Grimes was not a high-level employee and believed what he was told, but "knew enough" that he acted recklessly when Nelson came to ask for a trailer.
Both the father and the son, Pullan said, will be responsible for paying $43,170 to Nelson.
Benjamin Grimes pleaded no contest to theft by deception and pattern of unlawful activity, both second-degree felonies, in two cases related to the business in June 2022. He was ordered to serve 90 days in jail and three years of probation for each case.
He also received multiple complaints from the Utah Division of Consumer Protection and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March 2019.
