Summit Contracting victims meet with law enforcement

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) - Summit Contracting victims met with law enforcement at the Brown County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday.

The victims-only meeting concerned the money attendees lost.

Federal prosecutors said Summit Contracting used “misleading, deceptive” tactics to con customers out of more than $1.5 million in 2018 and 2019.

Victims who wished to speak expressed concern about the damage done to their credit reports. They wanted to know more about steps to take to be paid restitution.

One of the people who attended the hour-long meeting was Mary Klimczyk.

Klimczyk called the conversation with law enforcement productive, although victims were told not to go into specifics about what was said.

“They helped ease a lot of minds. It’s definitely a long road. It’s not going to happen overnight, but I think it just helped give some insight to what’s coming, and most people are worried about their credit and credit rating,” Klimczyk said.

Klimczyk originally contacted Action 2 News in 2019, launching an investigation by Sarah Thomsen. The investigation led to more victims coming forward with similar allegations against Summit Contracting.

Many of the victims were beginning to give up hope, telling Klimczyk their homes were still in disrepair and all the money they had was gone.

“Just hang in there was the biggest word I could ever say, but that grows old after a while so our system isn’t perfect, by any means. There’s flaws in everything, but I just wanted to keep encouraging people that something will come of this,” Klimczyk told Thomsen last week.

After three years of waiting, federal wire and bank fraud charges were filed against Summit’s owners, Nate Smith and Chad Schampers early February. Gina Schampers and lead salesman Jeffrey O’Brien were also charged.

The meeting was packed, though attendees could also join via zoom.

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