2 men swindle Coon Rapids woman out of nearly $370,000 in fake contracting work

COON RAPIDS, Minn. (KMSP) - A Coon Rapids woman was swindled out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by contractors she hired soon after her husband passed away.

It all started when the woman hired two men to do some renovations on her home.

According to the criminal complaint, the contractors kept pushing her to hand over more and more money that they spent on themselves.

The two men, Nathan Hanson and John Born, are facing felony charges for apparently swindling a Coon Rapids woman out of nearly $370,000.

The woman is not named in the criminal complaint, but was referred to the contractors for her home renovations by an acquaintance.

First they found black mold and told her the house would need major repairs. Court documents show Hanson and Born were literally removing entire walls in the house.

Then they told her a paint job would cost about $100,000 dollars.

The complaint says some of the sub-contractors who were hired thought the renovations were "odd and did not need to be done."

Prosecutors say Hanson then started going after the woman's savings. He convinced her to hand over $90,000 and to "give it to him, to keep it in a safe in his home where it would be safer.”

He then got the woman to buy two properties in East Bethel--one he rented out and the other he lived in.

Hanson was not at home when we knocked at his door. 

Records show instead of paying rent on the properties, Hanson was taking trips to Sturgis, Las Vegas and California.

The two suspects will make their first appearances in court next month.