The smudgiest of the pages. After the SO investigated, they referred it to the County Attorney's office for prosecution. I have copies of that, and may put them up, but I truly hate Leisa's HP Officejet K80 scanner. I need to find the power adapter for my flatbed scanner. But I digress.

I ran Shane on the Maricopa County Recorder's website, which is where I came up with all of the recorded judgments. I then went to Central Phoenix Justice Court, where they have a terminal you can use to search anything filed in Justice/Small Claims court. Shane has been involved in thirteen lawsuits, twelve of which appear to be related to the refrigeration business and one eviction, one traffic violation, and one felony indictment for fraudulent schemes.

Let's have another contest: if you've been sued more times than Shane, e-mail me. You'll join the winner of the power bill contest for a lovely dinner and drinks at a dive of our choice. But I digress.

I went to the Northeast Phoenix Justice Court and requested the file, which was archived. When it arrived, there wasn't much in it, just a cryptic motion to dismiss, indicating that Shane had pled under a similar set of facts and circumstances elsewhere. But it didn't say where else. The court clerk suggested the City prosecutor might have done something. The city's records go back until the early nineties, yet they didn't show anything. I pulled the Sheriff's report.

On pages Three and Four of the report, the investigating detective indicated that he interviewed an investigator at the Registrar of Contractors, who was investigating Shane for fraudulent schemes. Since he was "doing business" with the Refrigeration Guy in 1997, he was probably working under a suspended or expired license.

Here's where the document trail grows cold. Depending on with whom you speak at the Registrar's Office, the file has either been destroyed or is archived. The Registrar has the power to enter orders, assess penalties and such, so I'm guessing that Shane's transgressions were dealt with at the administrative level, rather than at the judicial level. They probably made him make good on the bad checks, as well as pay the Refrigeration Guy what he owed him.

In one of my conversations with Shane, he told me that his family has been in the air conditioning business for years. He told me he "grew up in the business." Maybe that's true. It's my opinion, though, that the only thing Shane learned as he was growing up in the business was how to screw people over. So if I'm a bit wary of Shane, I think I have good reason.

I wouldn't believe you if your tongue came notarized!