A Michigan construction company owner accused of cheating the people of Wyoming’s least-populous county out of hundreds of thousands of dollars now faces a century’s worth of prison time if convicted.
The criminal case of Jerold Markus Saeman, 39, rose Monday to the felony-level Niobrara County District Court.
Saeman and his company, Bay to Bay Building Concepts LLC, have made headlines before, after filing for bankruptcy with $911,000 in liabilities last year and having a business license suspended in 2023.
Now, Niobrara County Attorney Anne Wasserburger has charged Saeman in criminal court.
He faces 10 counts of felony theft – each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines – and one count of misdemeanor theft, punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.
Storm Chasing
The investigation took about a year.
The Niobrara County Sheriff’s Office had been working on it throughout 2024, then handed it to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation on July 10, according to an evidentiary affidavit by DCI Special Agent John Miles, filed Nov. 20 in Lusk Circuit Court.
The investigating deputy told Miles that he started receiving complaints in October of 2023 regarding Bay to Bay Concepts, LLC, based out of Michigan. The company’s personnel arrived in Niobrara County in the middle of July 2023 after a severe hailstorm had blasted the area, damaging homes and buildings.
Numerous residents complained about the company, citing both poor construction and overbilling, the affidavit says.
The deputy gave people a consumer protection form to lodge their complaints with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office. He also spoke to more than 15 people who’d had dealings with Bay to Bay. Many of them voiced concerns, as winter encroached, that Bay to Bay would not be back to finish the work for which they’d already paid, says the document.
The company had taken down payments from 11 homeowners, totaling $151,664.57, the affidavit says.
Bay to Bay had emailed and called various homeowners, promising to return in the spring of 2024 to finish the work, Miles wrote. But as of July 18, 2024, the local deputy reported that the company had not been back to the Wyoming county to finish any work.
A Tally
The deputy listed the names of local victims who’d given initial payments and hadn’t received the work for which they’d paid, the affidavit says.
Those down payments were listed in the following amounts:
- $8,212.92
- $8,950
- $875
- $25,818.97
- $6,900
- $2,750
- $31,284.67
- $2,900
- $9,298.32
- $21,500
- $27,332.55
Four more customers had lodged complaints saying Bay to Bay did some work, but it was poor or improper work, the document says.
“Bay to Bay had essentially taken their money and ran,” Miles related from the residents’ complaints.
One complaint said the company had advertised in the town of Lusk that it was licensed and ensured out of Michigan, but Saeman’s license had been suspended in July of 2023, wrote Miles.
For A Fee
Miles reviewed emails between the customers and Saeman. When people started asking for a refund, it appeared Saeman would try to have them “cancel” their orders, albeit for a 30% fee and other costs, the affidavit says.
Then he’d assure people that his company would get the job done; and he’d say that he had told his crew not to promise timeframes as they apparently had, alleges the document.
Miles on July 31, 2024, received Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reports for Saeman and Bay to Bay. The agent saw several pages of “suspicious activity reports” filed by banks, he wrote.
Hey, Michigan
Miles spoke with Michigan State Police Sgt. Bryan Fuller on Aug. 27. Fuller said there were many victims in Michigan who’d complained that Bay to Bay would come in and do a few jobs, many substandard, collect money and bail from the jobs, the affidavit alleges.
After his Michigan license was suspended in 2023, Saeman appeared to go West “storm chasing,” Miles related from that discussion.
In September of 2024, Miles followed up with the alleged victims in Lusk. They said Bay to Bay never came back to finish the work, deliver materials, or issue refunds, says the affidavit.
Open Case
An agent with the Wyoming Consumer Protection and Antitrust Unit told Miles on Sept. 9 that the agency had an open case on Bay to Bay regarding the Niobrara County residents’ complaints, the document says.
But Bay to Bay didn’t give the agency civil process information, Miles related.
On Nov. 14, Fuller told Miles that he believed Saeman and Saeman’s foreman were operating in the Nashville, Tennessee area.
Wasserburger charged the theft case six days later.
The circuit court judge at first set Saeman’s bond at $10,000 and ordered him to stay in Wyoming, court documents indicate. But on Dec. 20, the judge modified that bond to $5,000 cash or surety, with a provision allowing Saeman to live in Michigan during his prosecution.
A Wyoming bail company put up the $5,000 on Dec. 23, the court file shows.
Saeman waived his preliminary hearing Jan. 3, and his case was filed in the felony-level court Monday.
His attorney Joshua Taylor of Just Criminal Law did not immediately respond to an email and office message requesting comment.
Saeman could not be reached via his listed numbers.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
