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Wednesday, November 15, 2017

ROBERT BUCKHANNON'S SENTENCING DELAYED; NOW SET FOR DECEMBER 18: What Really Happened At Buckhannon's Torched On Deck Sports Bar? Here's One Thing That Didn't Happen (Insert Eye Roll): Buckhannon Paying His 5-Figure Legal Fee!

Nearly four years after a suspicious fire destroyed the On Deck, a Battle Creek sports bar he ran with a former girlfriend, Robert Buckhannon was slapped with a judgment by an attorney who defended the “crooked chiropractor” in a civil action brought by a former investor, Stephen Anderson. (Anderson is the nephew of Per Wickstrom, currently facing a federal Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit regarding his Battle Creek-based A Forever Recovery.)

Calhoun County Circuit Court records reveal attorney Aaron Bartell secured a $37,095.70 judgment against Buckhannon on July 13, 2017 for non-payment of legal fees stemming from the 2013 dispute with Anderson.

Like his involvement with Cultiv 1260, Buckhannon hid his management role in the On Deck project behind stand-ins Anderson and then-fiancé Kelly Demoss.

Anderson operated under SPA Equity LLC, with Demoss inking formal paperwork for On Deck Sports Bar & Grill LLC and S.G.E Investments, LLC.

A helpful history lesson:

On September 27, 2011, Robert Buckhannon unlocked his clinic door for the first time. 


Located at 2846 Capital Avenue SW, the clinic boasted "$20 visits". Buckhannon later held the clinic's formal grand opening on December 11, 2011. 

And forgoing his usual fancy-schmancy multiple LLCs, Buckhannon finally got around to registering his business under a simple assumed name in Calhoun County-Buckhannon Chiropractic Clinic--on March 14, 2012. 

And Dr. Rob got his swerve back on, too. 

But there were bumps along with the pumps--on May 25, 2012 a local woman filed for a Personal Protection Order against Buckhannon in Calhoun County court, but her request was denied by the court. Official records reveal the woman did not protest the decision. 

Dr. Rob got right back on the proverbial horse, becoming engaged to Kelly Demoss. 

Miss Fortune doesn't know if Dr. Rob got tired of his staid, small town "new normal", or if the grifter in him just recognized a worthy mark when he met Stephen Anderson. 






Maybe it was the soft, pink handshake that betrayed Anderson...we'll never know

The On Deck Sports Bar and Grill at 225 W. Michigan Avenue closed roughly a month after its April 2013 opening. 

Although DeMoss and Anderson reportedly invested several hundred thousand dollars remodeling the former Sports Page, Buckhannon's name didn't appear on any corporation records.

But the bar closed amid allegations from Anderson that the project was over budget and that employees and vendors were not being paid by Demoss and Buckhannon, who were operating the business. 

Anderson alleged in a complaint filed in Calhoun County's 37th District Court on May 17, 2013 that he fired Buckhannon and police escorted him from the property. 

In contemporaneous local reporting, Buckhannon said that was not true and he remained general manager. “The police didn’t escort me off; they told me there was no reason I had to leave.” 

Anderson said he just wanted to recoup his investment and leave the project while Buckhannon and Demoss said they were attempting to refinance or find new investors and continue to operate the business. They have denied extensive debt or that vendors or employees are not paid. 

But money problems plagued the project from its inception. 


Shortly before its April 10, 2013 opening, On Deck violated Michigan alcohol distribution laws by purchasing nearly $2,000 of “spirits” from Battle Creek's Whitt's Party Store instead of a state-authorized distribution agent and failed to maintain “accurate records of alcohol purchases”.

In mid-March, 2013, the On Deck Sports Bar attempted to transfer more than a 10 percent interest in its liquor license to then-partner Anderson and his SPA Equity Partners, LLC without the prior approval required by the State of Michigan's Liquor Control Commission (LCC), one of four violations cited in a December 6, 2013 report.
Rebounding with a $456,000 “hard money” mortgage loan obtained by Kelly Demoss on behalf of On Deck Sports Bar & Grill, LLC, the bar reopened on November 20, 2013.

Forty days later, on December 30, it was destroyed by a suspicious fire.

1 comment:

  1. Even though his sentencing is delayed, it's still a nice "Christmas present" for the taxpaying public. Just think if we could put some nice wrapping paper and a big bow on it - the bigger the bow, the bigger the sentence!

    ReplyDelete