Chad Neal the man known in Pacific for doing things he should not have been doing has ended up in prison for activities that he perpetrated far beyond our borders.
In 2017, Chad Neal, operating Orchid Development Company, promised to build a huge commercial development on Hogan Road, on the hillside north of West Osage and I-44.
Neal spent 18 days – in clear view of City Hall and to the horror of observing Pacific citizens – knocking down trees and stripping away the vegetation on the steep hillside, without an excavation permit.
In defense of the City for not stopping the digging, what he promised to build there was extraordinary. If it had been real, it had the promise to change Pacific’s image on I-44 and to bring as much as $6 million a year in sales tax revenue. Neal promised to build Dogwood Plaza, a 25-acre commercial development that would include a Cracker Barrel restaurant, a 200-room Best Western motel, two additional restaurants, space for a dozen retail stores, and an adjoining 44-townhome project adjacent to the plaza.
As they watched the swathe of bare ground on the hillside spread in all directions, Pacific citizens fretted that the traditional spring rains could bring a slurry of mud sliding off the bare hillside and wreak havoc on the surrounding area. And that is what happened. On Sunday, March 18, 2018 up to 1.5 inches of rain fell, rushing water overcame silt fences and sent streams sluicing across private property below the excavation site.
Even though the City of Pacific and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources investigated and threatened, Neal never faced consequences for his activities in Pacific.
After repeated promises that tomorrow he would have the necessary paperwork to qualify for the digging permits he did not have, Neal abandoned the Dogwood Plaza project.
It was not known at the time, but he had more pressing matters. He had been indicted in federal court for fraud in 105 unsatisfied contracts dating back to 2008.
I have to tell you . . . in repeated phone conversations with this reporter, Chad Neal was all charm. One could hear the smile in his voice. He was moments away from clearing up any misunderstanding and Pacific was going to love the grand development he was working on.
The courts also fell under his spell. From the time of his indictment in December 2017 the courts granted extension after extension for the trial. What is mind-boggling about all this is the scope of the charges against him. While he was excavating our hillside, Neal faced charges for dishonest construction practices that put his Pacific misdeeds of false promises and pushing over a few trees on a par with a jaywalking offense.
The Eastern Federal Court of California was preparing to try Neal for defrauding 35 construction companies in 24 states by securing construction contracts from government agencies. He had bid on contracts to provide goods and services to the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, National Park Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other government agencies. He had to surrender his passport and pay a $1,000 cash bond and was free to continue working.
At first he pleaded not guilty. Court documents show he used false names and aliases to impersonate federal employees: He was a private in the Army; he worked for a government agency awarding contracts; worked for the U.S. Air Force; provided a vendor with a false U.S. Air Force email address. Some vendors believed they were working directly for a government agency.
The government awarded at least 105 contracts to various companies owned by Neal. Contracts required Neal to provide services, including purchasing and transporting aggregate rock, gravel, and other raw materials to sites such as military bases and national parks. Neal subcontracted all the work to small and medium-sized businesses that the court identified as ‘vicim vendors,’ which then provided all the goods and services. Neal did none of the work himself. He arranged for the government to pay him directly. He failed to pay the vendors but kept the proceeds for personal use.
He was able to pull off this series of offenses using the U. S. Mail.
In September 2019 Neal changed his plea from not guilty to guilty of mail fraud. The California Eastern District Court accepted the guilty plea, sentenced him to 57 months in federal prison and ordered him to make restitution of $3.6 million to the vendors he defrauded.
Even then his power of persuasion was impressive. He was able to persuade the court, in four separate pleas, to allow him to put off surrendering to prison, citing his height, weight, heart condition and fear of COVID.
Finally on June 24, 2021, three and one-half years after his conviction, Judge Dale A. Drozd said there would be no more postponements. Neal was ordered to report to federal prison on July 14. (In the interest of full disclosure, we were not able to confirm that he actually showed up at the prison.)
In Pacific Dogwood Plaza is barely a footnote. Vegetation has returned to the hillside and signs say the property is available for sale and development.
Pacific Resident Nick Cozby participated in the research for this article.
I was in business in Pacific. ( P.N, Hirsch & Co, Wal Mart Manager, and Shelter Insurance Co) from 1964 until I retired in 2012. I now live in Villa Ridge, but I still enjoy going to Pacific and seeing people that I have been associated with for all these years. It is great to read all the information you provide . Keep up the good work.
Rick I believe Lamar still owns that land.
Who knows how to contact the realtor for questions regarding the property?
This happened under Mayor Palmore. So elections have consequences. There were developers all the time trying to pull some shifty deals. We always did our due diligence. Had a guy who was going to develop the same property. He was going all over town offering folks twice what their property was worth. Problem is he had NO money. He wanted the city to back him. If he defaulted the city would be on the hook. Yet many citizens would come to my office and say we need to stop digging dirt on the guy.
I’m not sure how doing due diligence didn’t uncover the city was offering CID money to a man with a federal felony case pending against him. Also, city hall is literally right across highway 44 from where he was illegally clearing this land for weeks – yet no one noticed anything? Seriously?
I thought that part of what this person did in Pacific was that when he illegally graded that hill he also went past his property line and bulldozed down some sort of “common area” that was private property belonging to a nearby neighborhood, and destroyed it completely.
Is this correct or was that just rumor/myth?
Hi Matt, that was a different occurrence unrelated to this specific developer. That common area is owned by Eagles View subdivision and is just north of the Eagles View entrance on Thornton Rd.
No wonder Pacific is going nowhere! I hope we have people in office that will not allow this to happen again. Can we please get something in this town! Shame on all of you, that were in office at that time.