Bradenton cabinet business scammed clients, spent their money in Las Vegas, police say
Two Bradenton business owners are facing charges of fraud, according to court documents that say they scammed over a dozen customers out of nearly $200,000.
Ryan Nobles and Nicole Anderson, owners of now-closed M&L Cabinets at 7320 Manatee Ave. W., are charged with scheming to defraud in the amount of $50,000 or more, court records show.
The Bradenton Police Department said in court documents that the two collected “large amounts of money from customers” who placed down payments on kitchen renovations, but provided customers with nothing in return and instead used the money “for entertainment.”
Nobles and Anderson were arrested and could not be reached for comment. Their attorneys did not immediately respond to the Bradenton Herald.
Police cite information in a subpoena showing that Nobles used his company credit card for $226,788 from Aug. 1 2022 through Jan. 19 2023, spending large sums of money at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel, in Las Vegas and on cruises.
Similarly, police say Anderson charged over $90,000 to her company card during the same time period, mostly through ATM withdrawals and fees.
Customers filed nearly 20 police reports
Court records show nearly 20 reports have been filed with the Bradenton Police Department since 2022 of customers ordering and paying for a total of $191,925 worth of goods and services from the cabinet company without receiving their full order.
Detectives say customers often received little or nothing in return for substantial down payments, often in the amount of 50% or more.
Several police reports filed by customers say when they attempted to contact the business about their orders, their calls often went unreturned.
When they showed up to the business in person, they say it was usually closed.
Following one report filed with the Bradenton Police Department, Detective Michael Carpenter said he went to M&L Cabinets during business hours at 2:15 p.m. on Feb. 28, where he found the doors locked with a “closed” sign on the front window, but the lights were on inside the business.
After this experience and an examination of the business’ financial records, the detective said he “determined both Nicole Anderson and Ryan Nobles participated in a prolonged scheme to defraud money from customers.”
Police say Anderson and Nobles were responsible for the financial records, while a third owner, Clinton Hoy, “was not involved with receiving or disbursing funds from clients or vendors” with his primary role in the company being the cabinet installer.
Hoy’s lawyer, Scott McKay of McKay Law Firm in Bradenton, said his client was not in the office on a daily basis and had nothing to do with accounting, where he says “massive withdrawals” were being taken from the corporate account for personal use by Anderson and Nobles.
Detectives say Hoy asked to see the financial records at one point and was denied by both Anderson and Nobles, prompting him to go in after hours and discover “numerous discrepancies in the accounts.”
Carpenter said McKay provided him with over fifty pages of M&L Cabinets’ financial documents that showed in early 2022, their account held $630,554. Since then, Carpenter said it showed Nobles had withdrawn $319,254, Anderson had withdrawn $136,200 and Hoy had withdrawn $175,100.
Civil suit by company’s co-owner
Court records show that Hoy is suing M&L Cabinets, Anderson and Nobles.
The lawsuit said that as a result of Anderson and Nobles “illegally taking and misappropriating funds of M&L Cabinets” for their own use, the company cannot pay its cabinet suppliers, cannot refund deposits back to customers whose cabinets have not been provided, cannot pay sales tax and cannot pay income tax.
McKay said as soon as Hoy found out what was going on, he filed suit and is spending his own money to go after Anderson and Nobles, despite Anderson being his sister.
“At some point they were robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said McKay. “It’s a bad deal for Hoy and he’s done the right thing to try and straighten it out. He hired me and we didn’t hesitate to go after those people.”
McKay said he and Hoy have cooperated with law enforcement during the investigation and that numerous customers have called his law office just to vent about the situation.
“Hoy, to his credit, he put his money where his mouth is and he wants to make this right. He’s a good dude.. I hate thieves, I hate those who take from others. Customers got robbed by those two and we’re going to chase them down to the end of the earth if we have to,” said McKay.
M&L Cabinets was passed down from Hoy and Anderson’s parents. At one point it was a multimillion-dollar business, detectives said.
Several one-star Google and Yelp reviews have been left in the past year by customers who say their orders have not been fulfilled, even though they gave the company money.
M&L Cabinets has an “F” rating from the Better Business Bureau, according to their website.
Nobles was arrested by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 31, according to their website. Court records show he has a hearing regarding a motion to reduce bond scheduled for Sept. 27.
Manatee Clerk of Court records show that Anderson was arrested on Aug. 23 and had a bond hearing on Tuesday, where her bond was reduced from $250,000 to $100,000. Both remain in custody at the Manatee County Jail, according to a press release from Bradenton Police Department.
Anderson is set to be arraigned on Sept. 29, with Nobles’ arraignment scheduled for Oct. 6, according to the release.
The investigation is ongoing. Bradenton Police Department is asking anyone with similar complaints against M&L Cabinets to contact Detective Carpenter at michael.carpenter@bradentonpd.com.
This story was originally published September 21, 2023 at 9:53 AM.
