Contractor accused of theft arrested for violating release deal

Published 10:45 am Wednesday, September 7, 2022

A Baker City man scheduled to stand trial this fall for allegedly failing to do construction work after taking money from clients was arrested Monday, Sept. 5 for working as a contractor, in violation of a release agreement he signed in July 2021.

Kenneth Edward Hackett, 52, was arrested at the Baker County Jail, where he was lodged.

According to an Aug. 31 affidavit from Michael Spaulding, chief deputy district attorney for Baker County, Hackett signed a release agreement on July 11, 2021, that included, among conditions of release, “no performing contracting type work for compensation.”

Spaulding wrote in the affidavit that a local resident told police that he had paid Hackett for contracting work. Spaulding also wrote that Hackett had admitted working for the man.

Hackett was initially arrested on June 19, 2021, following an investigation by the Baker City Police and Baker County Sheriff’s Office into construction fraud complaints.

Two incidents involved a combined loss of $78,000, according to a June 2021 press release from Baker City Police.

Hackett has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree aggravated theft, and four counts of first-degree theft.

Greg Baxter, Baker County district attorney, said in an earlier interview that a charge can be elevated from first-degree theft, a Class C felony, to aggravated first-degree theft, a Class B felony, if the amount is $10,000 or more, or if the victim is 65 or older.

Hackett was scheduled to go to trial April 25, 2022, in Baker County Circuit Court, but the trial was postponed after two attorneys appointed to represent him withdrew.

A trial is now scheduled to start Oct. 10, 2022.

According to the Oregon Contractor Construction Board, Hackett has never been a licensed contractor in Oregon.

The agency fined Hackett five times between 2009 and 2021 for working without a license, said Leslie Culpepper, communications and education manager for the Contractor Construction Board.