MARQUETTE COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) – Several people accusing a Gwinn man of fraud are coming forward with their stories.
As we first told you last week, Mike Sivula is charged with five felonies in three counts in Marquette County. The criminal complaint obtained by TV6 alleges there were three victims, with Sivula accepting money for a number of services he ultimately did not provide.
Sivula was arrested on August 16 for allegedly defrauding people through his business, the Lake Superior Sauna Company. One of the accusers is Sharon Pletcher.
“I’m just devastated,” Pletcher said. “What he did is unbelievable.”
Pletcher says she hired Sivula’s company to build a custom sauna for her grandson. Pletcher says she gave Sivula $7,500 late last year, but the work was never completed.
“I called him and told him I wanted my money back, nothing,” Pletcher said. “That was the end of it all. I wrote him again, wrote him again, threatened to take legal action, nothing, nothing.”
Pletcher learned that her situation is not an isolated one. The new charges also name two other victims who never received the repairs they paid for. After our first story about Sivula aired last week, more alleged victims called us, including John Williams.
“What’s really disappointing is all the complaints that have come up recently. It really makes you wonder if something would have been done sooner,” Williams said.
Williams says he paid Sivula in 2021 for a lake retaining wall that was never built. In that other case, Sivula pleaded guilty.
“It’s very frustrating, especially given the speed at which it moves through our legal system,” Williams said.
In this case, Sivula is scheduled to be sentenced on October 1 for false pretenses. Sivula’s defense attorney Jeff Schroder says the case should never have gone to trial.
“I’m not very happy about it,” said Schröder. “This is a civil dispute and there are civil remedies for it.”
He says he feels the same way about the recent cases.
“When a prosecutor files charges for these things, they try to say the client never intended to enter into these contracts and is a thief,” Schroder said. “I just don’t see that. I don’t see that at all. I see someone who struggled and tried very hard to fulfill the contracts that he had.”
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