Jan. 14--David Briggs has spent time in prison for writing bad checks. He bilked his girlfriend's grandmother to pay for a new Harley. And, court records also show, he sold the same Cadillac Escalade to two people -- and Briggs didn't even own the vehicle to begin with.
Sentencing documents have characterized him as "a menace to society."
"David Briggs seemingly victimizes everyone he's met," DuPage County prosecutors wrote in a 2010 court document.
The 30-year-old Woodridge man was headed back to prison Thursday after pleading guilty to fleecing an elderly Villa Park man out of $117,000 in a home repair rip-off and bouncing checks written to two other victims for tens of thousands of dollars.
In a plea in DuPage County court, Briggs admitted guilt to felony counts of theft by deception and financial institution fraud and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
In the deception case, a 79-year-old Villa Park man hired Briggs in late 2014 to remodel his kitchen and redo the siding on his house, and gave Briggs a down-payment check for $17,000, prosecutors said. However, they say, Briggs came back in following days for an additional $15,000 and gambled the money away at a casino.
On Dec. 22, 2014, Briggs and the elderly man went to the bank, and Briggs made the man transfer $60,000 to Briggs' personal account, and then had the man withdraw another $25,000, which he gave to Briggs, prosecutors said. On the same day, they acquired a building permit for the remodeling work, and Briggs, who already had $117,000 of the man's money, made him write a $150 check to cover the permit cost, Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak said.
"(The victim) was confused about how much money he gave the defendant," Michalak said. "The defendant kept telling him he needed money for materials."
The man's daughter canceled the home repair contract and asked for a refund, but they never heard from Briggs again, Michalak said.
Briggs has a history of crimes that have led prosecutors to dub him a "con artist" and a "financial predator."
In 2008, he sold a Cadillac Escalade SUV for $17,500 to a man, even though the car had been bought by Brigg's grandmother. After selling the car, Briggs persuaded the buyer to let Briggs borrow the luxury SUV. Authorities say he then resold the car, this time for $19,000, to a Minnesota couple.
In 2009, authorities say, Briggs bounced a $26,000 check for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He persuaded his girlfriend's grandmother to front him the money by promising to repay her when he arranged financing. Not only did he not repay the woman, but he also persuaded her to give him another $10,000, according to court records.
In 2010, he was sentenced to four years in prison for theft by deception.
"Briggs has an excuse for everything and shows no remorse for bilking people out of thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of dollars," prosecutors wrote in one his previous cases.
Las Vegas authorities have a warrant out for Briggs' arrest on charges that he wrote a $130,000 bad check, according to court files. In that case, he is alleged to have made arrangements and bought a large number of tickets to a prizefight, but his check was returned for insufficient funds, according to authorities.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
