Suspect was accused of stealing from pool hall in Cassville in 2023

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

A Cassville woman was recently arrested on an out-of-state warrant and extradited to Georgia, facing multiple felony cases in multiple states relating to alleged fraud and theft.

Amanda Ross, born 1984, of Cassville, was arrested on April 1 on a fugitive warrant out of Franklin County, Ga., for four counts of felony fraud. Cases against Ross are also active in at least two other states.

Locally, a police report against Ross was filed with the Cassville Police Department on June 23, 2023. According to the incident report, filed by Det. Stuart Lombard, police took a walk-in report of theft from the H&H Pool Hall. The victim, a co-owner of the business, said Ross had been stealing money from the business for some time and had been involved in day-to-day operations since March 1, 2023, agreeing to run the business for 20% ownership.

The victim said Ross routinely handled money from food and beverage sales, as well as gambling machines. The victim said the business’ co-owner sent Ross $16,000 to pay all of the bills a couple of weeks prior to the report being taken. The victim said they believed Ross was paying the bills and had no reason to doubt her. However, the business’ internet and other utilities accounts were all past due.

After learning bills had not been paid, the victim began looking into the business’ finances and contacted its point of sale provider. The victim said Ross had allegedly changed the account settings so any funds coming through the point of sale system would go directly to her checking account, and Ross allegedly opened a checking account in the victim’s name on April 17, 2023.

The victim said payments on the point of sale provider loans were structured as to where they took a percentage out of each sale, and the victim had no knowledge of any loans or authorized any loans.

At that time, the victim accounted for more than $18,500 being stolen, but believed the total amount was more.

The investigation continued on June 30, 2023, after information later obtained by subpoena from the point of sale provider allegedly showed deposits into Ross’ checking account, added on March 1, 2023. There were 10 deposits displayed as ACH under Ross’ account, the first on March 3, 2023 and last on March 20, 2023, all totaling $1,608.28.

After that time, the deposits switched and began being displayed as going to a business debit card with the point of sale provider, and Lombard said he knew from previous discussions with the victim that there was no such card for the business approved by the owners. There were 29 transactions labeled “instant deposit” after Ross allegedly added her account and the business debit card to the account. It is unknown where the funds were deposited to for those transactions, Lombard’s report said. 

On July 27, 2023, Lombard said he met with the victim, who confirmed the business never had a debit card supplied by the point of sale provider, nor did Ross have permissions to transfer any funds from the business to her personal checking account added to the system.

Lombard also showed the victim emails sent from [email protected], and the victim said they had not sent the emails, including one signed with the victim’s typed signature and had a photograph of the victim’s Missouri driver’s license attached. 

The victim said Ross had been in possession of the driver’s license at one point to obtain a liquor license, but the victim did consent to the license being photographed or used for anything other than the liquor license.

On Aug. 22, 2023, Lombard met with Ross at the Cassville Police Department for a recorded interview.

During the interview, Ross claimed:

• The victim’s real estate company would pay half of the electric

• She went into the pool hall on the Wednesday after her vacation. The electric bill was past due. They had $3,000 left. She gave $2,500 to an employee and $500 to the victim.

• The victim took his name off of the water bill and wanted his real estate name put on it.

• The victim was always a month behind on payments.

• The point of sale hardware had to be put under her name. She could not switch the name after changing the business name to Route 76 Pool Hall.

• The victim brought his driver’s license in to let her take a photo for the point of sale system.

• The point of sale provider loan was not for cash, but the equipment lease.

• She said the victim knew there was a loan in his name.

• Square took a percentage out of every transaction.

• Funds were originally going into an account at Security Bank, and the other co-owner asked her to open a separate account at CS Bank.

• Point of sale transactions went into her account. She would then transfer to the pool hall account.

• The co-owner said he did not want the victim’s name on the account.

• The victim would use slot machine money to pay some of the bills. It had left them short when the machine owner came to pick up the money.

• The co-owner wired her money to open a new CS Bank account.

• She admitted to sending emails to the point of sale provider on the victim’s behalf. She said he was aware.

Ross provided numerous copies of bank statements, contracts, texts and more. Lombard said he asked Ross if she had ever been short of money and temporarily borrowed from what the business had put into her account, and she said she had not.

Ross said the other co-owner was aware of how she was running things and the movement of money. Lombard said it was vital he speak to that co-owner prior to pursuing any further investigations. Ross said she would pass along Lombard’s information to the co-owner, and Lombard escorted Ross from the building.

On Oct. 24, 2023, Lombard completed a statement of probable cause for Ross, requesting charges of identity theft and forgery for using the victim’s driver’s license and portraying the victim in emails to obtain a loan from the point of sale provider.

Lombard said he printed copies of the email correspondence and created a file to be delivered to the Barry County prosecuting attorney’s office on Oct. 25, 2023.

No charges were ever filed as a result of the information and probable cause statement.

On Monday, the victim provided court documents from the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Monroe. The documents summoned Ross to court for a case filed by Wynwood Capital Group LLC against 10 Cassville businesses, as well as Ross and another defendant, William Ross.

Businesses named included: Endless Concepts Contracting LLC, DBA Boss Hog Contracting; AC Beauty and Beyond LLC; Ross Decking & More LLC; 4R Contracting, LLC; Route 76 Pool Hall, LLC; Stubby’s Automotive, LLC; 4R Cattle LLC; Country Kiddos Daycare LLC; sunshine Tanning & More LLC; and Boss Hog Barndominiums LLC.

According to the court documents, on or about Sept. 19, 2022, Wynwood Capital Group and the defendants entered into an agreement that Wynwood purchased 6.26% of the defendants’ future receipts up to the sum of $59,960 in exchange for a discounted purchase price of $40,000.

Pursuant to the agreement, the defendants agreed to remit to Wynwood the amount of receipts sold through a daily remittance amount that was a good faith estimate of the purchase percentage of the defendants’ average weekly receipts. The defendants allegedly ceased remitting to Wynwood and breached the agreement by blocking Wynwood’s withdrawals while conducting regular business.

The defendants allegedly remitted $45,781.10 of the receivables purchased by Wynwood, leaving an outstanding balance of $45,781.10 and default fees of $2,835.78. The documents allege the defendants failed to direct the agreed-upon payments to Wynwood by changing the bank account from the designated bank account by placing a stop payment or taking other measures to interfere with Wynwood’s ability to collect the purchased amount.

There remains a balance due and owing to Wynwood in the amount of $17,014.68, plus interest, costs and disbursements.

In Colorado, a suit has been filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado for the amount of $52,000. Steve Wiggins and Brandilynn Gregg filed suit against Endless Concepts Contracting, LLC, DBA Boss Hog Contracting, based in Missouri; and against Boss Hog Barndominiums, LLC, based in Indiana.

In that suit, the plaintiffs alleged they entered into a contract on May 16, 2024, to construct a home, and that Endless would provide services, including the construction of a full turn-key, move-in-ready build to the plaintiffs’ satisfaction.

The suit says ground was broken on the project, but work halted when the defendants and their agents were unable to source sufficient labor and contractors to continue work. The plaintiffs were informed the original contractor was fired and a new contractor would be sourced. After the original contractor was fired, it was discovered by the plaintiffs and defendants the contractor had billed for work previously completed by the plaintiffs and at the plaintiffs’ expense, and the plaintiffs have received no credit for the fraudulent billing.

The defendants sourced a replacement contractor in the late fall of 2024, and the new contractor alleged all previous work was non-compliant and proceeded to demolish all work completed, allegedly destroying other work outside the scope of the project, including destroying a roadway and building pad constructed by the plaintiffs.

The replacement contractor then allegedly abandoned the project after one week, leaving the work completed by the defendants and the plaintiffs destroyed and unusable.

The documents state the plaintiffs, as a result, sustained damages including property damage; past and future repairs; mitigation costs; loss of use of all; loss of use of applicable product warranties; attorneys’ fees; litigation costs; and other damages.

The plaintiffs believe the defendants allegedly misrepresented their services and that they were qualified to offer all services to which they agreed.

Another case against them in New York, filed Jan. 26, alleges a breach of contract filed by Calabria Funding LLC against Endless Concepts LLC. And another case in New York, filed by Epic Advance LLC, alleges a breach of contract similar to the case filed by Wynwood. The suit against Endless Concepts claims it sold future receipts having a value of $120,000 for the sum of $80,000, and the defendant allegedly put a stop payment on the account.

Information on the case in Georgia, for which Ross was extradited, as well as any possible cases in other states, could not be determined as of presstime.