Founder Of Twin Cities Wind Energy Company Charged For $2 Million Fraud

TWIN CITIES, MN — Acting United States Attorney Gregory G. Brooker has announced a federal indictment charging Shawn Robert Dooling, 50, founder of a renewable energy company, with three counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud, and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property. As alleged in the indictment, in 2009, Dooling founded Renewable Energy SD, LLC (“RESD”), a wind energy company headquartered in Excelsior.

From 2010 through 2013, authorities claim Dooling executed a scheme to defraud RESD customers by falsely representing that for an agreed-upon contract price, his company would build and maintain wind energy turbines on customers’ land. In total, Dooling allegedly used approximately $2 million from RESD’s bank accounts for his own personal benefit.

Dooling allegedly marketed the electricity-generating wind turbines as a way for customers to save money by generating enough electricity to supply their needs and eventually sell excess electricity to utility companies.

As alleged in the indictment, Dooling told customers that he would send a portion of their money to a third-party manufacturer as a down payment to reserve a specific wind turbine. Then, when the wind turbine was completed and ready to be shipped, he would send the remaining portion of the money to the manufacturer to complete the wind turbine purchase.

In reality, instead of reserving and purchasing wind turbines for his customers, authorities claim Dooling often took customers’ money out of RESD bank accounts for his own personal use and benefit. As part of the scheme, Dooling also allegedly used some customers’ money to pay for other customers’ wind turbine projects.

As alleged in the indictment, Dooling furthered his scheme by lying to customers about the status of their orders and told customers that RESD’s failure to deliver the wind turbines was due to manufacturer delays. As a result of this scheme, more than 60 customers paid a combined total of more than $13 million to Dooling and his company and never received the promised wind turbines or a refund of their money, according to a news release.

Defendant Information:

Shawn Robert Dooling, 50, of Excelsior

Charges:

• Mail fraud, three counts
• Wire fraud, one count
• Engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property, one count

Image via Google Streetview