INDIANAPOLIS -- A Greenwood contractor has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, roughly a month after Call 6 Investigates asked tough questions about his business practices.
Federal records show that Brent Baer and his wife filed for bankruptcy relief on March 29.
The couple owes $1.25 million to more than 50 creditors including banks and former business customers.
Greenwood homeowner Chuck Arvo told Call 6 Investigates in February that he paid Baer $243,000 to remodel his home, but Baer did not do the work promised.
Arvo filed a lawsuit against Baer and his company Visions Design Group for breach of contract, home improvement fraud, and deceptive consumer sales.
The case was supposed to go to trial in April, but that civil lawsuit is now on hold because Baer filed for bankruptcy.
“I am just at a loss,” said Arvo in response to the bankruptcy filing. “I am worried I will never get my money back.”
Typically, Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection allows a person to get rid of most of their debts and start with a clean slate.
Arvo is seeking $750,000 in fees and damages. He's listed in the bankruptcy filing as a creditor who is owed for “claims relating to Visions Design Group, Inc. contract.”
Baer’s attorney Guy Kibbe declined to answer questions from Call 6 Investigates about the bankruptcy filing Wednesday.
State records show the Baers have operated under about a dozen different business names over past 20 years including Firefighters Handyman Services, Visions Design Group, Visions Kitchen & Bath, Euler Design, Image Panels, Construx Design, J B Building Materials, Universal Travel and Trade, Alan-B, Home Design Showroom, and Rock Solid Surfaces.
Baer earns $2,000 a month in gross income while working for his current company, Design Furnish Install, according to the federal bankruptcy filing.
