Tim Akers
LAWRENCE CO. – A Lawrenceville business owner has managed to accomplish something no one else has in the past decade or so: He’s forcing Tim Akers to pay up on a debt.
Akers, 38, of Bridgeport, is a former city alderman in that town. Why he gave up the office he sought two years ago hasn’t been explained, but he no longer sits on the council…and that’s probably for the best.
In a September 2016 filing by Benjamin Horner, doing business as State Street Vapor, against Akers, doing business in one of his alleged scam companies, Multi-Source Advertising, Horner prevailed and apparently obtained a judgment against Akers earlier this year.
As in all Small Claims cases, the complainant (Horner) has the opportunity, upon receiving a judgment, to ask the defendant (Akers) to produce records of financial status so that a determination can be made by a judge as to how much the defendant can pay toward the debt. This is done through a Citation to Discover Assets. A citation hearing is then held so an examination of income and expenses on the part of a defendant can be conducted. Upon completion of this, a judge can decide how much the debtor can pay to the person he owes.
Apparently attempts were made to get Akers to appear in court, although whether it was for a citation hearing or some other action is not made clear.
Whatever the case, a status hearing on the matter was held on May 25, and as is usually the case with Akers, he opted not to show up.
Apparently, Judge Mark Shaner (who has been the judge in several of these kinds of cases against several of the alleged deadbeats in Lawrence) had had enough and when it was requested of him, Shaner issued a body attachment warrant for Akers under Horner’s case.
A body attachment means that a person owing either an appearance, money, or an explanation for lack of both in a civil case can actually be arrested and held until he appears in the civil case to explain why he’s not showing up.
Incidentally, Shaner also apparently issued a warrant for Akers in a separate case as filed by Casey State Bank back in 2010, which court documents show also had a Rule to Show Cause hearing on May 11 (a Rule to Show Cause can be a hearing that requires the presence of a defendant to explain why he couldn’t pay on a schedule as set forth by the court on a judgment entered).
Records show Akers was arrested on May 25 and was booked at the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department.
And Akers, who had allegedly been unable to pay on the multiple causes against him, was miraculously able to pony up $450 for his release on that same day.
The bond money was split among three separate cases, although which one is the third isn’t made clear.
Akers also has a default judgment against him in a Small Claims case in Crawford County after a woman, Bernice Phillips, filed against him in early April and she received a judgment later that same month for $345. It’s possible the $450 posted could have gone toward the three active cases, the one in Crawford and the two in Lawrence.
That case involved a flawed appliance Akers sold Phillips through his “business” he operates in Bridgeport, providing used appliances that many have stated simply don’t work once they get them home…and Akers fails to make good on the matter.
Akers has a history of dodging judgments against him; but worse, he and a “partner,” Louie Campbell, are known locally as scam artists who create “businesses” and then run some kind of scam for which many people fall, then they close down the “business” and never make right what they did to those they conned.
Only a few people have bothered to take them to court for their antics…and fewer have prevailed by getting any kind of money out of the two.
Oftentimes a debtor will begin to wise up once he realizes that every time he posts bond, that bond will never be returned because it is disbursed toward those to whom he owes the debt, and thus being jailed is not only embarrassing, but a lot more expensive than just pissanting $50 a month to the creditor.
In Illinois, it is very nearly impossible to get a debtor to pay once a judgment is determined, owing to all the “protections” the state affords a low-income person who for all intents and purposes is a thief if they don’t pay on their debts.
Hearings have been scheduled for Akers in the two Lawrence cases: In Horner’s case the next one was scheduled on the day after delivery for this issue (June 1); in the Casey State Bank case, July 13; and in the Crawford County/Phillips case, nothing has yet been set.