Iron Range contractor accused of swindling customers
Jul. 8—An Iron Range contractor allegedly pocketed tens of thousands of dollars for work he never completed.
Tony Joe Suoja, 37, of Hibbing, is charged in State District Court with five felonies after authorities said he accepted and refused to refund more than $27,000 in payments received from three clients between September and April.
Suoja is said to have owned a business called What You Need Construction and Remodeling. Bank records allegedly show that he closed his business account in February, several months after he withdrew some $13,000 in cash from an ATM in the Bois Forte area.
Chisholm police first began investigating in December when the owner of a holding company reported that he had hired Suoja to build a garage in the city. The man had written Suoja a check for $4,746 on Oct. 5 and it was cashed on Oct. 13, according to a criminal complaint.
The property owner told police that no one ever showed up and that he communicated with Suoja via text message on both Nov. 17 and Dec. 1 asking for a refund. Suoja allegedly stated that he was in quarantine and would have someone deliver a check, but the refund was never issued.
Officer Aaron Musburger then called Suoja, who allegedly reported that he was waiting for a concrete company to refund his down payment. When asked what company he used, Suoja said he was on a roof and would have to call back later; he never returned any subsequent phone calls from the officer, according to the complaint.
Formal charges were filed in the Chisholm case in late February, and Hibbing police were alerted to another alleged swindle that same week. According to court documents, a man told investigators he had given Suoja two checks totaling $21,389 for remodeling work that was to be completed by the defendant.
The victim reportedly stated that he had given Suoja the first check in late September, with the contractor promising to begin work shortly after receiving the second payment on Nov. 30. But Suoja stopped responding to any messages and apparently changed his phone number, according to the complaint.
The victim initially was not interested in pursuing criminal charges but simply wanted assistance in locating Suoja. Sgt. Cliff Arola eventually was able to reach Suoja by phone in early March, with the defendant claiming he had "lost the proposals and (the victim's) contact information."
Arola provided the client with Suoja's phone number and, despite several text messages promising to arrange a date to start work, the contractor never performed the work or refunded the money before again dropping out of contact, the complaint states.
Arola obtained Suoja's bank records in May, finding that he had made "numerous withdrawals" in the Bois Forte area between Oct. 1 and Nov. 29, before closing the business account entirely.
The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office in June also took a report of Suoja failing to perform work at a Side Lake property. According to a complaint, the owners had sent the defendant $1,046 on the Venmo application in April to perform sheet-rocking and other services.
"The defendant always had an excuse for not doing the work and promising to do it at a later date," the complaint states.
"Some of the excuses included blowing a brake line on the way home from Ely, not having parts in stock, a caliper bleeder snapping off, his son getting sick, his daughter falling down steps, forgetting his phone, being locked out of his iPad, the wheel bearing going out on his truck, having a family emergency and having to get a new phone."
The victims reported that their friends were also having trouble with Suoja, the complaint states. He allegedly replied to an email on June 10 promising to repay the money but then dropped out of contact.
Suoja faces three counts of nonpayment for improvement and two counts of theft by swindle. He was briefly jailed on Tuesday and was released with conditions ahead of his next court appearance on July 15.
A check of court records indicates that Suoja has multiple prior criminal convictions, mostly related to drug possession. Following convictions last year, he remains under supervised probation in Crow Wing County until 2035 and Itasca County until 2025.
