Posted at: 09/25/2009 3:00 PM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 09/25/2009 6:49 PM
By: Brett Davidsen

I Team 10 Follow Up: Building Contractor Guilty of Fraud

A Livingston County jury has found Danny Hurst guilty of all counts.

The Oklahoma contractor was accused of pocketing more than $200,000 intended for a construction project in Geneseo.

Hurst was hired to construct a building to house a call center for a California-based collection agency. It promised to bring dozens of jobs to the area and was supposed to open last February.

Hurst failed to pay many of the sub-contractors for work they did and then abandoned the job.

The company had to hire a new contractor to finish the job. The business is now scheduled to open next month.

"During the course of our investigation, we discovered Hurst did exactly the same thing to three other victims, including a Baptist church," said Livingston County District Attorney Thomas Moran. "Apparently God did intervene."

Hurst was found guilty of all six counts of grand larceny and falsifying business records. The jury deliberated less than three hours.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

I-team 10 uncovered that Hurst has a lengthy criminal history, and when he was arrested last winter, he was already on probation for embezzlement.