$4 million judgment for church

WEATHERFORD A judge recently ruled that South Main Church of Christ is entitled to more than $4 million from a three construction companies owned by a man who committed suicide, leading to a public search, last year. However, when and if the church will see that money is still unknown.

The members of this congregation have been severely harmed by these actions, church Elder Larry Cobb said of the fallout from the actions of Dempsey Stice.

Stice, who founded Stice Electric, Stice Construction and several other companies, was best known as president of Stice Enterprises at the time of his death in January 2011. The business was the general contractor for many large construction projects in Parker County, including hotels, housing additions, churches, businesses and a medical center and bank.

Among his projects was a $1.9 million renovation project at South Main Church of Christ, not completed at the time of his death.

The church at 201 S. Main St. in Weatherford tackled the ambitious project which shut down a half-block of College Street in January 2010, tearing out an old classroom wing and working to replace it with a 20,000-square-foot, three-story configuration that will house administrative offices and consolidate all 26 classrooms in one building.

What the church didnt know at the time was that Stice, who was reported missing and later found dead in a helicopter he owned that he had landed in far north Parker County, was facing many problems. At the time of his death, he was under investigation regarding forged construction project documents and he had filed for bankruptcy in May of 2010.

In a petition filed earlier this month, on March 7, South Mains lawyer noted that Stice had completed some renovations for the church in 2009 at a cost of $278,000 and, at the time, the church was satisfied with his work. In his attempt to convince the church to hire him for their $2 million education facility project, Stice told the church that he was experienced in this type of work and had proper training, had the necessary financial capabilities to perform the work, would hire an experienced and qualified engineer and obtain permits, would properly supervise the work and other promises, the petition states.

These representations were false, the petition reads. In fact, what Dempsey Stice contemplated, and what he had done on other jobs, was stamping a fake engineers seal on the plans for the project so that he could obtain the necessary permits without the trouble or expense of having a qualified and license engineer review and approve the plans.

Through fundraising efforts and a $1.6 million loan taken out with Legacy Texas Bank, the church proceeded with the construction, according to the petition.

Construction of the education facility proceeded through most of 2010, the petition reads. In late 2010, the City of Weatherford withdrew the permit for the construction because of evidence of the lack of authenticity of the engineers seal on the plans. The evidence of this fraud by Dempsey Stice was the culmination of a series of difficulties for Dempsey Stice, including his filing for bankruptcy, and Stice Construction being sued in a multi-million dollar wrongful death claim. This led to Dempsey Stice flying his helicopter from Weatherford to Mineral Wells and committing suicide on January 14, 2011.

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$4 million judgment for church