Turning a Corner

In October, Steven sent out a "contract" in an attempt to effect a settlement in payments. Needless to say, none of the buyers fell for it. Many thought it was a ruse Steven would use to manufacture an agreement, make a payment or two (if that), then stop, further cementing this as a civil matter.

But later that month, Steven made a deal with a buyer to ship one original game and one substitute game (Arabian and Punch Out!!!) along with a refund for the remaining amount owed based on agreed value. Steven also made a partial refund payment to a second buyer and sent a store credit for a pinball merchant to a third buyer as partial repayment. The first buyer was one of the victims who received junk games earlier in the month. Perhaps Steven was attempting to make amends for the "joke"? The buyer had a different take and it may have been due to him sending some gentlemen to Steven's for a chat.

When those games arrived, they were in good condition and the substitute game at least had some value, even if it was not a game the buyer really wanted. In November, Steven sent out two substitute games (Major Havoc - Space Duel conversion and EEEKK) to the other buyer he sent a junk game to. Again, those games were in good condition, one was a Dan Sullivan reproduction.

Steven continued with the hard push for substitute games of his choosing and others agreed to take them, in fear that they would otherwise receive nothing, in part due to Steven stating as such; get them while the getting is good. In early December, a buyer who had sent Steven almost $30,000 relented and received 16 substitute games (Playchoice 10, Rampage, Bosconian, Space Duel, Asteroids Deluxe, Pac Man Jr, Gauntlet, Gyruss, Stargate, Pengo, New York New York, Make Trax, 1943, Space Firebird, Fonz & KAOS). Another buyer who purchased three games received 2 machines (Super Contra and Karnov), one originally purchased and one a substitute; the game originally purchased did not work when it arrived. With the news of some games sent and repayments, Steven did not waste the opportunity to tout this as a win, proudly (and defiantly) notifying others that he was making good. Still, other buyers were not willing to compromise.

It was at this point that Steven had blown through his "ready to go" substitute games. He essentially had nothing left to bargain with. For some reason he just refused to part with any of his other games, even those it is suspected he did own.

Through the course of the investigation, based on the data in the photos he sent, it was pieced together that Steven was “selling” games from at least 3 different locations; his Gresham warehouse, Kris’ Gresham warehouse and what is believed to be Steven’s "home gameroom" (likely two physical locations) at his Sandy OR residence; one room can be seen in the videos he provided. Until recently, only the games already in the Gresham warehouse were ever seen there; the “home gameroom” games were not seen in any of the FD photos (despite Steven claiming all sold games were in the warehouse at the time), nor were they ever shown in any of his “cleaned” photos after the “fire”.

When asked about these games by buyers, Steven deflected and either stated they were too damaged to be shipped (even when his bluff was called and buyers told him they would take these games as-is), or flat out refused to even discuss them. Based on what was discovered, it is believed Steven never had any intentions of letting a single one of these "home gameroom" machines go, along with a handful of his favorites in the warehouse. These were the diamonds of his collection and a source for a large amount of revenue he made on the “sales”. 

Over the course of the debacle, in an attempt convince buyers that everything he was saying was accurate and true, he would often relate something along the lines of “if this is a scam, how come no one called the police?” To an extent, this may have worked on some buyers.

But what Steven did not know was that law enforcement was already involved.

Shortly after the notice of the “fire”, a few buyers contacted their local law enforcement. Despite indicating these types of investigations are what is was created for, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (part of the FBI) proved useless. The Oregon Department of Justice claimed this was not the type of case they investigated. It looked as though Steven's plan to confuse this scam with a simple civil case of an unlucky seller subject to a bad turn of events (in the eyes of the law) just might work. Unfortunately for the victims, local and state law enforcement in Oregon refuse to take a direct report on crimes like these where, although the suspect is a resident, the victim is outside their jurisdiction; the victim must first file a report with their local law enforcement and only then may it be transferred to the law enforcement organization in the suspect's jurisdiction. However, that is exactly what a few did, and after remaining in frequent contact with them, their reports were finally transferred to a detective in the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.

After collecting preliminary information from a select few, the detective requested all victims provide information directly. The detective's contact information was sent to all victim's, some of which were not aware law enforcement was actively involved. At that point, one of the victims, for unknown reasons, notified Steven that he was under investigation. Steven and the detective spoke that day and within two days Steven had made arrangements to refund over $37,000 to 5 buyers, including the buyer who filed a small claims suit 3 months earlier. A man who had spent nearly half a year claiming he had absolutely no money, who had only shipped or refunded about one third of what he scammed people out of (and less than a third of that was a cash refund or what the buyer originally purchased), suddenly had tens of thousands of dollars ready to refund. And he was willing to send it, even though he claimed everything he was saying was true and none of it was a scam of his doing.

Over the following few weeks Steven worked out agreements with other buyers for refunds and more favorable substitute games, though he still overvalued their worth to come out on top. In January he sent two substitute games, Total Carnage and Spy Hunter, to one buyer. Steven originally had those games listed for $2000 and $2800, respectively. But he substituted them for a purchase that was $5400, how convenient for him. Also in January, Steven sent out three originally purchased arcade games (Pigskin 621 AD, Dragon Spirit and Gauntlet 1) and a Medieval Madness pinball machine as a substitute to another buyer. The same Medieval Madness that Steven sold for $10,000 in July, then refused to ship to the original buyer claiming it was too damaged, Steven now valued at $17,000 as a substitute. Steven also sent one originally purchased game (Warlords) and a substitute game (Reactor) to a third buyer, and a substitute game (Chameleon, another Dan Sullivan reproduction) to the buyer who accepted the pinball merchant credit in October, and a substitute game (Pig Out) to the buyer who received the Journey in August. The Spy Hunter had board issues and the controls on Total Carnage were sloppy and the cabinet was not in as nice condition as claimed, but the other games were in good condition or at least matched their descriptions. Steven also sent another originally purchased game (Night Slashers) to the buyer who received the Blasted back in August, though it too did not work upon arrival.

Steven also, finally, acknowledged the victims he "sold" PCBs to, and refunded them. Throughout this ordeal, it was never explained why the PCBs, which should have been shipped via a carrier (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.), NOT freight transport, were never shipped upon payment, nor what they were even doing in the warehouse as Steven claimed. Of course, they were not actually in the warehouse as Steven never had them.

But in shipping substitutes, Steven provided more evidence of his deceit. Recall from the Transport section that Steven told a prospective buyer that both Bosconian and Spy Hunter sold, within 2 days of their listing in July, to prevent a large number of games from being picked up in person. Yet both were available and shipped as substitutes in December and January. Eh, he probably had multiples of each.