wilkes

Since Thomas has been on the run (ha ha) he hasn't worked since he was in so called business with his Daddy. He has moved his family to the Holiday Inn Express because of the outside pool. Of course it is only 3ft. deep. Let's give him a month because that is usually the length that he can put off paying his debt. Where will he move next? Holbrook, Lowe's, or William's Motel watch out!

Not in the Wilkesboro store unless they have a room that is not visible to the public. I am in there several times a week at all time of the day and evening, never seen him.

Does he still work at Tractor Supply?

He's being a good boy I reckon.

Have not heard from Thomas lately. Has he been kicked out of the Red carpet Inn? Just curious!

He will eventually get his due. Nobody can beat the odds forever.

I would like to know how you revoke your probation and only receive a couple of weekends in jail, I thouht it was a mandatory 60 to 90 days. I know he did not have enouhj money to buy his way out of it? Makes you wonder what is going on at our courthouse.

Like, who cares?

Someone told me Red Roof Inn. But that was a week or so so by now he could be renting a house from his next victim.

Where is Thomas staying now?

He is a pathological liar that believes his own lies. It's as simple as that. Being entrusted with peoples money was to much for him to handle. Having been given everything his whole life didn't prepare him well to be a business owner. Being head usher was to big of a temptation. I also was an usher and turning over thousands of dollars a week with the majority of it being cash to Thomas so he could record it and turn it in was all to tempting for him. We counted it, recorded it, and then turned it over. After the church incident I do know they changed their method of collection to ensure something like this wouldn't happen again. Nobody will ever know how much he stole from the church. Knowing he possibly pocketed my tithe on occasion didn't do much to endear Thomas to me, that's for sure. Always tithe with a check is my suggestion for church goers, after this incident. Hundred dollar bills are to tempting. You just never know how Christian the fellow is next to you. I will admit at the time this occurred I was as shocked as everyone else though. He was a decent con. The church struggled with how to handle this situation, and in the end the charges were dropped. There was a payback involved, but ultimately it was a pure guess as to how much Thomas pilfered from the church. I'm sure it was far less than he actually pocketed. Amazingly enough he came back to the church a while after the incident and apologized for doing wrong but never acknowledged what he if fact had done. It was a lame attempt at redemption. As church goers do they forgave him because that's what Christians do. Or at least they wanted to seem forgiving but forgiveness it a hard thing in reality. It was a wonderful church, and it could have happened anywhere. It was believed it would be better for it not to go public but I'm pretty sure they wish they'd handled it differently, if given a do over. What's done is done. Ernest never once acknowledged to me that Thomas took the money, and I never brought it up out of respect for him. We worked together for quite some time and it was a non topic of discussion. I know it killed him inside. Still, he enabled Thomas by giving him his own business and I guess he hoped Thomas would redeem himself. Ernest was very involved in running the business, so I was shocked that he allowed his behavior to go on. I truly think in his mind Thomas would change. Shocking how naive some people are. Or perhaps Thomas learned from a master con himself, and I had his dad misjudged all of those years. I ask myself that very question to often. To think someone I considered like family would be that convincing for 13 years makes me very distrustful of people. Feeling betrayed doesn't even come close to explaining the nature of this whole ordeal. Needless to say I'm not as gullible as I once was, and I guess I learned a valuable lesson from it. What I hate most is he tarnished the trade that I spent a lifetime building in Wilkes, and made people suspicious of small businesses in general, especially garage door companies. He gave a lot of good honest business people a black eye and made their jobs harder because people are less trusting after being burned. Giving deposits on door orders are common practice because cancellations are way to easy without something binding the deal. Nobody wants to get stuck with expensive special order doors that are almost impossible to sell either. In the end there has to be some mutual trust for a business deal to come to fruition. Thomas is the exception, not the rule. Buyers need to be conscious of paying in full up front in any business however. That should draw a red flag. Never pay more than 50% down, and most companies will settle for much less. Just something to seal the deal.

Teresa is married to him so she has the same confidentiality as lawyer/client. She probably knows more and could even be the instigator but unless her hands are caught in the cookie jar then she probably will not be found guilty or indicted on any charges. She can always say she did not know anything and state would have to prove that she physically had a hand in it. If her name had been on that checkbook then that would be different.

I just do not understand this. As I have said before, the previous victims that pressed charges on him, were paid back on the day of the trial. The judge told him not to contact any victim. This would be the only thing I could think of that he could have done. The judge told him that if he got into any trouble, or broke his probation, he would be sentenced to a minimum of 8 years. Maybe he thought one of his victims had their money and maybe wanted to give them another chance on delivering a door. LOL

I personally know of 6 victims that did not press charges. I cannot understand why not. My friend felt like it was their duty to try to keep some other innocent person from being cheated. From what I was told, he had borrowed a large amount of money from a church member after he left the church where he had a problem. He had not repaid that money and the person did not press any charges.

I was also so sad that the church did not press charges. I understand that they lost members because of the lack of doing so. The church had a responsibility to protect the public.

So it would really be interesting to hear the real story on this. I do not think he will move. He believes that he has done nothing wrong. I guess he thinks that people want to give him huge amounts of money and get nothing in return.

And he calls himself a Christian and says he has a Christian family. How can you live with someone when you know that they are a crook, liar, and hypocrite. Could be that they are actually the same. Sad that they have children that has to hear about his past. If he was a loving father, he would have gotten a real job and been a honest man.

Ya, I know it was a probation violation. Be nice to know exactly what it was. IF one more new victim would come forward I think it would really tip the scales towards him doing some real jail time. More people need to come forward because they will likely be the deciding factor of Thomas fate. I wish the poor elderly lady previously mentioned would put the nail in his coffin. His probation has to be coming to an end in the near future. It was only 36 months. Otherwise yes, he will have won again. If you want to call that WINNING. In the end he will have to atone for his actions, one way or the other. If he had scammed my naive elderly parent he would be answering for it a lot quicker, that's for sure. I can't believe someone hasn't stomped his butt yet. That really amazes me, especially in Wilkes. His luck will eventually run out. Just don't count on the JP to report it when it does though. This is the only forum that is getting the word out. Think of all the people that could have been spared had their been responsible reporting done at the beginning of this mess.

thatdoorguy

Thomas' weekends in jail was not a result of his scamming the elderly lady. It was because he broke probation over something from the previous cases that he was convicted of. As far as I know the elderly lady scam has not even been reported. That is why I responded to Todayistheday1 to press charges against Thomas on his abuse against his mother. If nothing is none, Thomas has won again!

Thomas needs his butt kicked. Maybe he needs to be lashed with a bamboo stick. That will teach him, even if temporary.

It seems probable that she was an accomplice and possibly even an instigator. However, Thomas is the one that got caught red handed and since he received minimal punishment and a slap on the wrist I don't see how charging her would do any good. I've seen so many people do lesser crimes and serve much harder sentences. A public apology would go a long way towards acknowledging his deceit, yet he refuses to take ownership of his actions. He never will. Neither will his family. That's what makes this all so hard to swallow I think. Ernest should also publicly acknowledge Thomas is a thief and a liar, and apologize for his part in all of this as well. Ernest used to be such a good man, it's truly sad that he will go to his death bed eventually with this burden. Thomas should have received at the least six months for his actions, instead of several weekend visits. I've been told the JP wouldn't cover the story like it should have been due to Thomas coaching someones kids over there. When we can't count on our own newspaper to protect the interests of the citizens of Wilkes County then that's pretty darn sad in itself. If Thomas had any sense at all he would relocate his family away from all of the public scrutiny and start over. Who in their right mind would want to live in a small town where they had to constantly perpetuate their innocence? If I was a low down thief I sure wouldn't. Got to hand it to ole Thomas. He is a resilient jerk at the very least. I don't think it's fair the Welborn's had to do such long sentences for doing pretty much the same crime, and Thomas get off so easily. But then again, it's small town justice and who you know. Always has been that way in Wilkes. I'm glad I'm not living there anymore, sad to say. I used to think I'd live there forever, but I don't miss it one bit except for a few friends and family. I guess most small towns are that way though. No prejudice against the fine folks in Wilkes, just the way the county turns a blind eye towards select individuals makes me bitter.

The way I see it Teresa should be charged too!! she knows all about what he's doing and up holds him in every bit of it!!

I'm guessing she never got her money back? Was this one of his latest victims?