3:45 p.m. Court finds two tattoo-convention promoters in default

Two men accused of a fraud scheme involving bogus tattoo and concert promotions will have to pay more than $8,500 in restitution to victims.

At a hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court today, Judge David Dally accepted a consent judgment against Zachary Grimm, Joplin, and an order for default judgment against Josh Allen, now of Carthage.

The two men were accused of being employees for another defendant, Derrick Gates, also of Joplin, who is accused of defrauding dozens of vendors out of thousands of dollars in booth rentals and vendor fees for a series of concerts and conventions that never took place.

The three men were the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon in December of 2007, after several vendors began filing complaints against Gates, his associates, and their two business entities, OnFire Productions, and HardNox Productions LLC.

The complaints came from vendors who said the paid Gates for booth space at Godstock, a Christian music festival that was to take place last summer in Joplin, and the Ink Deep tattoo convention, which was supposed to take place in December in Kansas City.

In addition to restitution, both men are required to each pay one-third of the cost for the attorney general’s fraud investigation. Both men are also subject to a permanent injunction, which prohibits them from promoting or advertising for events without first securing a performance bond and notifying the Missouri Attorney General’s office of the event.

Gates is scheduled to have a trial on June 4, 2008 at 1:30 p.m. in Jasper County Circuit Court.