Help! I think we were swindled...

[slyguy]

Here's the deal..  About 3 weeks ago I put up a small deposit in order to reserve a sleeper fishing house for the festivities this weekend.  I was provided business cards, contact information, and through 2 weeks of prior back and forth conversation, had no reason to doubt the gentleman i was working with.  He lauded himself as the owner of a large fishing guide service, and offered to hook us up with a fishing house, as well as access to his many kegs of beer and food his group was bringing up to leach...

We havent been able to get hold of this guy for over a week now, and i have since found ZERO information on his "guide" business, nor has any info been found to coroberate his story.  We live 2 hours away from Walker, and the last thing i wish to do is drag my friends and our gear all the way up there, only to find that we are crap outta luck, and the whole thing was a bold faced lie.

I do not wish to throw his name, or his bussiness out there, but if anyone thinks they can help sniff this out for me, i would be greatfull.  We were pretty jacked for our very first Pout fest, and now, 3 days before hand, its looking like we may be sitting at home, not to mention a little lighter in the wallet..

Thanks for the help!

[Mayfly]

I do not wish to throw his name, or his business out there, but if anyone thinks they can help sniff this out for me, i would be greatfull.  We were pretty jacked for our very first Pout fest, and now, 3 days before hand, its looking like we may be sitting at home, not to mention a little lighter in the wallet..

Thanks for the help!

If it were me his name and business would be everywhere. Where did you find him?? Who is he??

[icebanger]

I agree with MNO!!!!!If you have a name of the person I would run him threw the system..If you need help I have a freind that could find out anything about him it will cost you some money but you can at least stop him from doing this to someone else And maybe recoup your losses.....Shoot me a pm if you need some help and ill get you his #

[slyguy]

He was a customer of my employer.  He had been dealing with us on and off for the last year.  So after 3 days of negotiations, and a few hours of talking with this guy i felt comfortable giving him money as a deposit on one of his houses.  He claimed to be a big time fishing guide, and simply offered to reserve one of his many houses for us. 

I would hate to run this guy through the mud if i am wrong, or if there is something else going on, and he hasnt had access to his phone.  Regardless, here is his info.  Maybe this is a big misunderstanding, or i was taken for a ride. But unless i find out that he does in fact have a house for us, or i find other logging...our eelpout weekend is out the window.  Im not driving 2 1/2 hours to turn back around.

Donnie Weese
Midwest Fishing Expeditions

Thanks for all the help

[Mayfly]

Well I can tell you this....

A quick search through a few of my resources tell me that he is currently facing charges for felony theft by swindle.

[Mayfly]

I think you should contact the Police.

His full name is:

DONALD CLIFFORD WEESE
09/03/1967

[Mayfly]

Is this him?

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[slyguy]

Thats him alright.

Thats his facebook profile picture.

Pretty sweet, glad i offered to share his business card with family and friends.
If that is true, hopefully nobody else gets suckered by him.  At this point, i dont
even care about the money i gave him, im just pissed my weekend is shot. 

[Randy Kaar]

MNO is the man! Nice job Tim.

randy

[Mayfly]

Thats him alright.

Thats his facebook profile picture.

Pretty sweet, glad i offered to share his business card with family and friends.
If that is true, hopefully nobody else gets suckered by him.  At this point, i dont
even care about the money i gave him, im just pissed my weekend is shot. 

That is a bummer! Wish I could help.

[Cody Gruchow]

depending on the amount of money, if it was me his info would be going to the local PD to forward to his area PD to go have a chat with him...

[slyguy]

To be honest, it wasnt enough money for me to want to invest any extra effort in.  I am interested if anyone has any last minute lodging/rental hookups that they know are still available.  I've already broke the news to my crew,but if we can still put something together, i think a couple of us may still be down. Im not giving up yet!

[Cody Gruchow]

people like that honestly make me want to take them outback and beat them with a dead fish.....

[ScubaPouter]

To be honest, it wasnt enough money for me to want to invest any extra effort in.  I am interested if anyone has any last minute lodging/rental hookups that they know are still available.  I've already broke the news to my crew,but if we can still put something together, i think a couple of us may still be down. Im not giving up yet!

Slyguy, total bummer to hear ya got screw over but if it helps at all, we are renting an ICECASTLE fish house for the weekend, 8X16 size i think, its like $300 bucks or something like that ( i am not the one paying for haha) but you should give the guys a call. our contact is jeff drexler, 320-226-2635.

they are listed in craigslist, thats how we found them.

here is the link and i hope they can hook you up dude!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/spo/2175956715.html

[slyguy]

Thanks for the info.  A couple updates:

I found his mugshot in the stearns county database.  Sure crap. He was actually just released on 02/11 from a weekend in jail for...wait for it, yep, Theft by swindle.  That will make his 4th arrest in 3 years for Swindle.  Now that i have confirmed that it is in fact him, i will be contacting the police tomorrow. Hopefully this prick will get another weekend in jail for screwing me over.

Scuba-I actually called him this morning.  They are sold out.  I called another guy, but they want 700 bones for a thurs-sunday rental, and were only going to be there friday and saturday...so no dice. its too bad, I could probably make 200-350 work, but its not looking so good at the moment.

Thanks again for everyones help.  It looks like this guy makes a living by screwing people with his whole "Fishing Guide" Con, hopefully we can out this dude to the masses and make sure nobody else falls prey to this character.

[Hoser]

Glad you were able to find out a little more on this dude, by all means go to the local authorities.  Add to his record so his odds of screwing other people diminishes.  I understand that it may not be a lot of money, but the worst part is he screwed you out of the Eelpout festival, that's worse than a couple of hundred bucks!!

Wish we had some extra room for your guys but we are at capacity.

[Mayfly]

Thanks for the info.  A couple updates:

I found his mugshot in the stearns county database.  Sure crap. He was actually just released on 02/11 from a weekend in jail for...wait for it, yep, Theft by swindle.  That will make his 4th arrest in 3 years for Swindle.  Now that i have confirmed that it is in fact him, i will be contacting the police tomorrow. Hopefully this prick will get another weekend in jail for screwing me over.

Thanks again for everyones help.  It looks like this guy makes a living by screwing people with his whole "Fishing Guide" Con, hopefully we can out this dude to the masses and make sure nobody else falls prey to this character.

looks like he was picked up or turned himself in for a warrant. He is on probation and what he did to you was certainly a violation. Even if its a petty amount its still a violation. Can't let this dude get away with it.  

[Lee Borgersen]

Lock um up before he screws another one of our outdoor brothers and sisters.

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[fishwiz4]

call outlet recreation in fargo.  If you can afford to drive through fargo on your way to walker, they rent (and sell) realy nice ice castles 8X16 and bigger.  most are Mille acs models.  they go for about 350 bucks and that will include thursday through sunday i beleive.  i have not rented from them, but some of my friends have and it seems to be a really god deal

they should easily be able to sleep 4 people.

www.outletrecreation.com

701-748-6699

good luck.

sorry about your bad luck.  hope that guy gets what he deserves.

is he from walker?

[fishwiz4]

is there any chace that this guy hasnt been answering because he was in jail, and he actually has a fish house for you to use?

also, if he is screwing you, why the hell would he use his real name (especially since he has been caught before for simlar deals)?

[kenhuntin]

 Evidently this guy is not very good at concealing his identity for being caught so many times.
 If it looks and smells like a turd it's a good chance it is a turd. But fishwiz is right it could be a fake rubber turd with morning breeze on it.

[rookie69]

hell load up your stuff and just go    you can buy a big white storage tent at menards for $125 put a heater in it and a couple couches and rough it you wont get much sleep anyway

[tuffyfan165]

Slyguy, You made the decision to go so just go! Things will come together for somewhere to crash. Plenty of fish houses, rvs, trailers on the lake with likely open bed space. Just start talking to people and it will happen. We were offered to stay in a beautiful Ice Castle last year by a new friend we met on the ice. Get your name on the call lists for the area hotels too; there are always a flurry of cancellations at the last minute. Use your cell number so you can answer the phone when they call as they work down the list and keep going if they don't connect to a live person. You may be well down on the list and still get a room with that method. The local Chamber of Commerce in some cities sometimes blocks rooms for their promotional use; it may be late in the game for that but a possibility. Good luck and see you at Camp Y!

[walle1]

Just wondering how this turned out ?? I have never heard of the guy

[jigglestick]

I was just reading this and when I got to the name, I just about $hit myself.

last week, I had a call from Kim at Highbanks asking if I had anyone coming in by the name of Doug. they were waiting here at the lodge.
I didn't have any people on the books by that name but thought that in the hussel of things, I double booked or lost track of someone.
a rare occourance but it happens.

now she had me racking my brain cell trying to figure it out.

the story was, Doug, has an ice castle house on lake waconia. this Don weese fellow came to him, supposedly reffered by someone at "the marina"
he was looking for an ice house to use for himself and his girlfriend.
he was offering in trade a stay in one of his many ice houses all over the state, "pick your lake"
so they said they liked winnie and he said no problem.
he was in the works to buy Highbanks and it would be no problem to set them up.
to make a long story short, they showed up and there was nop house for them.
I put them up in one of my houses for the afternoon until we got this sorted out.
they realized they got snookered and stayed a half day and paid for that and then headed home.
I have Dougs number and will pass this info on to him.

crap head

[Mayfly]

I don't like this guy. I'm going to move this out of the eelpout forum and into a public area so everyone can read this.... Hopefully we can get the word out about this asshole.

 

[sandmannd]

Wow, what a complete tool. Thanks for posting this and letting people know what this clown is up to to.

[lentz]

well atleast he wont be geting any more clients who view this cite and if he does   untell he 

[fishnutbob]

 Sorry to hear about your lose what a big jerk If I would of seen this earlier I had a King crow wheel house on walker bay that I didnt use was up on red lake for the pout fest would of let you use it for a fair price could sleep three with cots five fish holes. 

[IceMan9985]

I know this guy prosonly. And im sorry to here about your weekend. this guy is my dad and i have seen him do this to so many people get hurt by him. I have seen him do this as i grew up and i hated him more and more im sorry about your lossing i can keep you guys all posted about what he is do.