Contractor pleads not guilty to felony theft

A Polson man is accused of accepting down payments for contracting services and doing little to no work. Donald Dean Guthrie, 68, entered a plea of not guilty in District Court in Polson April 9 to three counts of felony theft.

According to court records, in the early part of June 2024, Guthrie allegedly entered into an agreement for $78,000 in contracting services. The agreement was for a resident in the Lake Mary Ronan area, who gave Guthrie a deposit of $39,000.

Guthrie began the work on June 20, 2024, but did little work. Last August, Guthrie texted the resident and requested an additional $10,000; the resident made the payment and almost no work was completed.

When confronted by the resident, Guthrie agreed to refund all but $10,000 of the $49,000 paid, but returned none.

Another area resident reported that he entered an agreement with Guthrie to complete a $12,500 job, gave Guthrie a deposit of $6,300 and, again, the contractor did very little work. A third person reported paying Guthrie a $10,000 deposit for contracting services that were not completed.

All three incidents were reported to the Consumer Protection Bureau and forwarded to the Lake County Attorney’s Office.

Judge Molly Owen set the case for trial on Sept. 15. Guthrie remains at liberty.