By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

Personal expenses including utility bills, cable service, car insurance and a three-week stay at a Holiday Inn are among the things for which a Joplin promoter paid using money he received from vendors who thought they were paying deposits for booth space at concerts and conventions, court records show.

All told, Derrick Gates, 29, received more than $29,500 this year from more than 70 vendors looking to participate in three events, according to court records. The events were Godstock, a Christian music festival that was supposed to take place in September in Joplin but was canceled; Battle for the Mic, a rap concert in Kansas City, Kan., that was canceled; and the Ink Deep Tattoo and Piercing Convention, which was supposed to take place Dec. 14-16 in Kansas City, Mo., but was called off.

Gates and two co-defendants, Josh Allen, 26, of Carl Junction, and Zachary Grimm, 22, of Joplin, are being sued by the state in Jasper County Circuit Court for alleged fraud after several vendors said Gates failed to refund their money. Gates also was cited in the complaint for allegedly failing to register one of his production companies with the secretary of state, and for allegedly using an alias, Derrick Badders, to solicit funds for his events.

Gates did not return several messages seeking comment, but records he submitted to the court show that he spent $21,626 from January to August, including just less than $8,100 on Web site maintenance, fliers and promotional trips for Godstock and Ink Deep.

Gates’ affidavit shows he also was spending $150 to $300 per month for cellular telephones, $500 to $700 per month on car payments and insurance, and anywhere from $35 to $120 each on gas, electric, water and trash service per month.

Gates’ claim that he spent about $1,260 to stay at a local Holiday Inn for more than 21 days this summer because his “house was not ready” stunned some of the vendors who paid their deposits during that month.

“That’s about the time I gave him my money,” said Shane Yerington, an owner of Sling-N-Ink tattoo shop in Joplin.

A former landlord who sued Gates and his wife, Nena, said the couple were staying in a rental home at that time but had not paid rent for June or July.

Claudia Rousseau said it wasn’t until the end of July that the couple moved into the Holiday Inn, after law enforcement served them with an eviction notice.

“We filed against them on July 3,” said Rousseau, of Grove, Okla., who along with her husband, Douglas, rented the property to the Gateses. “We received the judgment on July 23. Sheriff’s deputies had to come with us to evict them. They kept stalling and wouldn’t move out without assistance.”

Rousseau said Gates signed a lease on April 10, and that his records indicating that he paid $525 for rent and a $300 deposit are accurate, although she said she didn’t believe he paid for any utilities while he was staying there.

“They never turned utilities over in their name,” she said. “They kept saying they couldn’t change the utilities over because of a prior balance.”

Assets and debts