TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE: Lumberyard a ruse, Iola man fumes

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March 24, 2017 - 12:00 AM

Up until a week ago, Roland Sutterby’s plans were to manage a multi-million-dollar lumberyard in Iola’s vacated Herff Jones plant.
The excitement was palpable.
He had in his hands a contract to purchase the old Herff Jones plant. He was riding in a $60,000 fully loaded 2015 Dodge pickup.
And he’d heard from several acquaintances, eager for the job opportunity.
“It was going to be great for the town,” he said. “She was going to pay better than average wages. She said she was going to pay two weeks for one week of vacation, because so many workers live week to week, and they would need extra money.
“But have you ever heard that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is?” Sutterby asked. “That’s what this is.”
The deal to buy the Herff Jones plant were squashed, and Sutterby’s plans collapsed, he said, because the financial backer — Iolan Bobbie Ingalsbe — has no money.
“She’s been telling quite a story,” Sutterby said.
The episode has left in its wake a series of stunned (and angry) observers, including representatives from True Value Hardware, an auto dealership in Olathe, Thrive Allen County, and in particular, Sutterby and his wife, Spring.
Sutterby has filed a small claims suit against Ingalsbe, seeking restitution for a cell phone and computer he had purchased for her.
Ingalsbe, conversely, insists she still has money in an account, and is awaiting completion of legal proceedings to release the money.
“It had something to do with some lawyers and stuff,” Ingalsbe told the Register, declining to be more specific. “It’s getting straightened out now.”
And, she still insists she will at some point open a lumberyard in Iola.

SUTTERBY AND Ingalsbe crossed paths after she started working in late 2016 for Don Diebolt, who formerly owned Diebolt Lumber and still runs Diebolt LLC. Both Sutterby and Ingalsbe worked as delivery drivers, transporting work crews or materials  for custom homes and other steel- or post-frame buildings to job sites across Kansas, Missouri and other parts of the Midwest.
One random conversation led to another.
“She asked me that if she had the capital, if I’d run a lumberyard for her,” he said. Sutterby said he would, but with the realization that such a venture would be costly: perhaps as much as $10 million.
“I have millions,” Ingalsbe reportedly told Sutterby.
The conversation soon turned to planning. Sutterby resigned from Diebolt in late January in order to focus full-time on getting the operation off the ground.
They involved several others in the process.
Sutterby and Ingalsbe reached out to Thrive Allen County, which in turn put them in touch with others who could be a part of the operation; in this case, True Value Hardware. David Toland, Thrive chief executive officer, noted True Value has been eager to open a hardware store in Iola.
And since the lumberyard had yet to find a home, Toland gave them the number of Herff Jones’ real estate broker.
“We had our plans right down to a T,” Ingalsbe agreed.
Included in the planning was a trip — funded by True Value — to California in an attempt to reach an agreement to secure a True Value Hardware franchise for the lumberyard.
Sutterby and Ingalsbe were treated to a Beach Boys concert, among other things, but could not reach an agreement with the hardware chain.
The True Value deal fell through — at Ingalsbe’s urging, Sutterby said — upon their return to Kansas, because she wanted to deal with another vendor.

THE PLANNING continued at a breakneck pace.
At the end of February, Ingalsbe and Sutterby went to a Dodge dealership in Olathe to purchase a pickup for Ingalsbe’s boyfriend. She then decided about a week later to buy a second truck, this one for Sutterby to use.
“I already have a truck,” Sutterby said. “I didn’t need another one, but she insisted.”
The 2015 Dodge was equipped with about every bell and whistle under the sun — against Sutterby’s recommendation. “I told her she needed to get a flatbed, and she sure didn’t need to get a truck with embroidered leather,” he said.
The truck’s retail value was $60,000.
But Ingalsbe refused to take no for an answer, so he picked up the truck, parked it at home, and drove it only sporadically.
He’s still unsure how Ingalsbe was able to get the dealership to part with the vehicles based on little more than a promise.
(Repeated attempts by the Register to reach the salesperson involved in the transactions were unsuccessful.)

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