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Many people ask why we brought Jon B. Hanley back into our lives after a 20 year absence, considering all the trouble we had with him before and all we knew about his character. The answer, in hindsight, makes us sound very naïve and gullible. However, this is who we are and despite the travails of life we have made a conscious decision to maintain our standards, values, and beliefs. We will not stop being who we are just because some others turn out not to be who they claim they are.

We believe in forgiveness. We believe in the power of redemption. We believe a person can change. And we believe we must practice in our lives what we say we profess to believe, or else our beliefs are empty and meaningless.

Jon B. Hanley came back into our lives in 2010 seeking forgiveness and offering to atone for what he had done in the past. He gave us $3,000 cash to compensate us for money he had stolen from us, told us he was sincerely sorry, and asked for our forgiveness.

We forgave him. We told Jon what was past was past, and we welcomed him back into our lives. We also asked him to join our business and gave him our trust. As you can see from reading this web site, within a very short time he was heavily embroiled with Jim Shaer and others in a plot to steal our company and our life savings.

Character flaws emerge...

Shirley and I met Jon B. Hanley when I returned to college in my 30s. I was majoring in journalism and communications and Jon Hanley possessed tremendous cartooning skills. My journalism mentor introduced us and suggested we work together. It proved a very productive association, and in time we progressed beyond working on the college newspaper and began to seek commercial work.

Literally from our first meeting, Jon B. Hanley touted his membership in the Mormon Church and the strong moral and ethical values this membership entailed. From 25 years ago right through the present Jon B. Hanley has not changed his spiel.

When one of my staff learned that Jon B. Hanley was a key player in the theft of our money and intellectual property, he made this comment:

"Jon Hanley? Isn't he the guy who's supposed to be all religious?"

It was after we started working professionally for pay that I began to see flaws in Jon B. Hanley's character, and learned I had to watch him closely. Once money entered into the relationship Jon needed close monitoring.

For example, I made a sale to a restaurant for a large sign that we would produce. I hired a sign company to build the metal frame to hold this sign to ensure that it would be safe and professionally installed. I did not want the heavy structure falling on someone's head and hurting them. The sign installation company gave me the required specifications for the signboard on which Jon was to paint the sign.

The board had to be a very specific thickness to work on the frame I was having built. Jon offered to pick up the two needed signboards, which were very expensive. I gave him the money in cash to pay for them.

Just a few months after the sign was installed it began to fail, warping horribly. At the request of the owner of the restaurant I investigated the failure. It was then I discovered Jon B. Hanley had substituted the thinnest, cheapest signboard he could buy in place of the board I had ordered and for which I had charged our customer. He had pocketed the difference.

After this I never again allowed Jon B. Hanley to handle money. But I underestimated his cleverness.

Like a thief in the night...

I applied through the City of Oregon City for a grant to create an interpretive center in a large scenic overlook located at the End of the Oregon Trail. The actual building is an outdoor elevator built into the side of a cliff. The interpretive center would consist of murals based upon historic photographs reflecting Oregon City's pioneer heritage.

Jon B. Hanley participated with me at the grant application meeting, promising the city he could complete the project in six weeks. We received the grant, with a downpayment for materials and the full balance due upon completion.

This is all public record.

The six weeks eventually stretched out to almost a full year, one of the worst years of my family's life. Jon barely worked. He did just enough to get the project started but would not finish anything. This went on for weeks and then months. During this time he worked at odd jobs to cover his own bills and came to me constantly saying he needed money or he could not continue on the project.

I subsequently learned that he was not paying his rent at this time, either. He was promising me that he would pay back all the money I was giving him out of the grant money we would receive when the job was finished. I would also learn he was promising his landlord he would pay him from the grant money when the job was finished.

In reality, there was no money available at all for his landlord. Jon took so much money from me, to support his wife and two children, that it exceeded the entire amount of the grant. There was not a cent for the landlord, nor even enough to pay me back in full.

Conning the Mormon Church

Jon B. Hanley's stated goal back in those early days of the late 1980s, early 1990s, was to be what he calls "a Temple Mormon." He explained this is a Mormon so devout that they can participate in religious rites in the Mormon temples, the most famous of which is located in Salt Lake City, Utah.

One of the requirements to be a Temple Mormon, according to Jon, is to tithe 10% of your earnings and give this to the Mormon Church. At the time we were working on the interpretive center project, Jon did not want to actually do this, so he came up with this scam:

He was a member of the Brookwood Ward located in Hillsboro, Oregon. He went to his Ward Bishop and told him he and his family were struggling but that in lieu of his required tithe he wanted to donate a large, complex, elaborately produced monthly Ward newsletter. There was only one small problem with this generous offer: Jon Hanley had absolutely no skill or knowledge in this area, none of the needed equipment or software, and thus no ability to actually deliver on his commitment to his church.

The solution was simple. Aside from having me pay many of his bills and support him and his family for the year during which he was supposed to be finishing the "six week job" on the interpretive center, he had me produce the Brookwood Ward newsletter. Of course, the newsletter never stated that a non-Mormon was making it. Jon and his family often apologized to me for this small omission (it listed them as the creators), but explained they would not get credit for the tithe if it was known they weren't actually doing any work.

The Mormon Church is known for keeping very good records. There should be no problem verifying when Jon B. Hanley was a member of that ward, and that he claimed to produce the newsletter. I use some very unique professional programs, including an art program that is very rare, which I still use today. Even 20 years later I could easily demonstrate to anyone with copies of these newsletters that I made them.

The Mormon Church also can use its records to verify Jon's address and learn what became of his landlord. More on that later. This was around 1992-93.

So Jon B. Hanley failed in his professional commitment to the City of Oregon City, used that failure to coerce me to financially support his family for a year, and also manipulated me to produce work he used to deceive the Brookwood Ward of the Mormon Church to advance his goal of becoming a Temple Mormon.

But there was one more victim, the person I believe was the most severely harmed. You'll meet him in a moment, but first, here is how Jon B. Hanley ended our first association, stealing everything he could get his hands on and then slipping away like a thief in the night.

The big lie... and the aftermath

After a year of supporting Jon B. Hanley and his family, and doing major volunteer work for the Brookwood Ward of the Mormon Church, plus our own extensive volunteer work, and of course all the commercial work I was doing to support my family and Jon's family, Shirley and I were struck by a terrible tragedy.

A reckless driver careened into our small economy car striking us on the passenger side. The speeding station wagon totaled our car, caving in the passenger side and injuring our six-year-old son Paul, myself, and Shirley so bad that she would need surgery.

Now more than ever, we needed the grant work completed so we could collect the money owed us, pay our bills, and care for our family.

I tried to call Jon B. Hanley and discovered his phone was shut off. I then called the City of Oregon City to make arrangements to have the murals completed by another artist so I could collect the significant amount of money owed me. I was met with devastating news.

"Your grant has been paid off in full," I was informed. "Jon Hanley contacted us, told us he had met his requirements for fulfilling the grant, and all the money was to be paid to him. We gave him a check for the entire amount of the grant. He said any remaining work is your responsibility and he has paid you for this and you will finish it."

This is all public record.

We were destroyed...

I was badly injured and struggling to keep working. Shirley was very seriously injured, and needed surgery. Thank God our son Paul was the least seriously injured and bounced back very quickly.

It occurred to me that the City of Oregon City had violated their fiduciary duty under the terms of my grant by giving this money to Jon Hanley. I had solid legal grounds to go after them for my money. But there was an ethical issue that was inescapable.

I had stood before these people and asked for their trust. I had history with them. I had been a newspaper reporter for the daily paper in that town. I had done other work for the city. These people were my friends. And most importantly, when they placed their faith in me I gave them my word they would never have grounds for disappointment.

So I did not say a word to the City of Oregon City about what happened. I went to the interpretive center to take stock of the situation. When I opened the door of the storage room where I kept all my supplies I found it completely empty. Jon B. Hanley had taken everything. Not only had he taken the money, none of which belonged to him, but like a scavenger he took every can of paint I had purchased, every paint brush, every tarp, everything down to the tiniest items.. even notebooks and pencils.

This is the situation in which Jon B. Hanley left me. I was badly injured, I had no money, my car was totaled, my wife was severely injured and needed surgery, I was barely able to work, and I had a moral, legal, ethical and professional fiduciary duty to the City of Oregon City to finish the interpretive center.

We know what Jon B. Hanley did. Here is what I did.

I took on any job I could get, even though barely able to work. I made enough money to pay my bills and support my family, and then I advertised for artists who could finish the interpretive center. I hired two talented artists and I replaced all the supplies Jon Hanley had stolen. After waiting on Jon Hanley for an entire year, these two artists finished the job for me in one week.

I don't consider myself a victim. I didn't then and I don't now. I am a 1950s Kansas farm boy. My family were pioneers and neighbors of Laura Ingalls Wilder. They kept our Homestead through the Great Depression and the dust bowl. They endured hardships beyond my ability to grasp. They were poor people, but they were good people. My early years on our 1882 Kansas homestead gave me the foundation upon which I have built my life and raised my family.

Life can be hard at times. I know this. And I know that survivors don't have time to sit around feeling sorry for themselves and calling themselves victims. But I also know that each of us, myself included, have our breaking points. I do not consider myself better than any other person because of my strengths, nor do I consider anyone else a lesser person than me because of their weaknesses.

Jon B. Hanley packed up his family in the middle of the night and fled from all his responsibilities. He caused us great hardship, but I recovered and moved on with my life.

But I fear there was a retired gentleman who may very well have lost everything as a result of Jon B. Hanley forsaking his commitments.

A week after Jon B. Hanley ran away from his life I received a telephone call from his landlord. Jon had listed me as a contact when he rented his home.

At first the man told me he was extremely worried about Jon and his wife and his children. He had been unable to reach them, they had not answered their door when he tried to visit, and he was afraid something had happened to them. It fell upon me to inform him that Jon B. Hanley had betrayed him.

"Nothing has happened to Jon or his family, " I told him. "Jon does not answer his phone or his door because Jon slipped out of town in the middle of the night."

"You mean Jon ran out on me?" He asked in a shocked, incredulous voice. "But he has never paid his rent to me. I am so far behind I am about to lose the house. I have been carrying Jon because I care about his family and want his girls to have a good home. Jon told me he was getting a large amount of money when he finished a big project in Oregon City. He said as soon as it was done he would pay me in full if I would just let him and his family stay in the home."

I had the sad duty of telling him that Jon never had any money coming from Oregon City, that this was my money and I had actually been supporting Jon and paying his bills. I then told him how Jon had cheated me and stolen my money by tricking the people at Oregon City.

"You mean he had the money to pay me in his hand last week?" At this point his voice, and my heart, both broke. "I bought that house with my retirement savings. It is everything I have to show for my entire life."

He was now crying.

"I can't pay the back payments. Jon told me he would have the money. He knows I will lose my home. I told him that was all my retirement money and I have nothing else in the world. Then you mean I have lost it all? I am ruined. I have lost everything."

The man was sobbing on the phone. I told him how truly sorry I was, but that there was nothing I could do. I told him Jon B. Hanley had betrayed us all.

Yes... I know am a fool

Now, 20 years later, my wife has lost her entire life savings to Jon B. Hanley and his cohorts identified on this website. She never wanted to let him back into our lives or business. Despite his paying back the $3,000 he stole she did not for one instant believe that he had reformed or changed.

"Someone like that never changes," she told me. "He is what he is and that is all he will ever be."

But I told her she was wrong. Jon is sincere I remember telling her. She was angry, but I was insistent. We all make mistakes, I told her. I have made mistakes in my life and people forgave me and gave me a second chance. I cannot do less for Jon.

And now, her life savings are gone.