Sedgwick County contractor under investigation for non-payment to subcontractors

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]An update to a story I first told you about over the weekend. People living in a Midtown apartment building in Witchaw now have water after going without for days.

[00:00:07]>> Yeah. Tonight, we're looking into the now former property owner who the Cedric County District Attorney says he's investigating. Cakes Jack Cooper is here now with the very latest on the former owner, Adam Church, and his business Parabotic Construction. Jack.

[00:00:22]>> Yeah, Chris and Deb. After Cake News did the story over the weekend about Chateau Villa Apartments and Over State Bank took over the property today and we're told the water was turned back on. But we've been looking into the former owner really for months now and found out he still owes a lot of people a lot of money.

[00:00:39]>> This was my dream coming true and it ended up a nightmare.

[00:00:43]>> Last year, after living in an apartment for a while, Andrea Walker and her family thought they were finally moving into a home that they could one day call theirs. This was supposed to be our forever home. One day, possibly purchasing it um down the road. It was the perfect size. It was in a good location.

[00:01:01]>> In small town Mulvane, everyone knows everyone. And as she was looking for that home, Adam Church, who owns Parabolic Holdings, said he could help her.

[00:01:10]>> Told me that one would be available February 1st of 2025. Um put my notice in at the apartment and planned on moving in. Um that date. Well, that date came and it wasn't ready. um told it would be two more weeks and I ended up not moving in till June 27th.

[00:01:27]>> For those four months with nowhere else to go, Walker and her family lived in a camper as she says they were being strung along by church >> that I was staying right near his home.

[00:01:37]So I got to see when he was purchasing all these things, building and welding his fence, buying all these horses, all these everything he was doing. I was seeing why I'm living in a camper with my three kids waiting on our home. It was it was pretty disappointing.

[00:01:51]>> And once she did move in, >> the house clearly was not finished. Um the things I noticed were uh I had sewage coming out of uncapp piping. Um there were electrical issues. I couldn't use the bathroom light.

[00:02:04]>> She says Parabolic even told her the home she was renting was not a priority to be fixed up.

[00:02:09]>> I kept reaching out to Adam trying to get things fixed and he would send someone over. that they would either like half do it or say they were going to do it and then I wouldn't hear for them again for 2 weeks and that kept continuing and continuing. And after only being moved in for a few months, she got notice from the metropolitan area building and construction department saying inspectors found the house that she and her family were living in to be uninhabitable and they had to move out. That's when both Walker and Cake News started looking into Parabolic and Adam Church. A quick search in the Kansas District Court portal uncovered a lot. Several former tenants have filed a small claims court lawsuit asking for monetary damages, including Walker.

[00:02:52]>> At the end of the day, we're the ones who are suffering the most for other people's actions. Like whatever he's doing, that's on him, but you're affecting me. I'm not asked to be in that position.

[00:03:02]>> Countless leans have also been filed against Parabolic for different properties they own, which includes the former Anchor building now occupied by Johnny's Tavern. Adam Church and realer Bobby Lane bought the property last year together, fixed up the building, and now rent it out to the restaurant. However, one of the subcontractors who worked on several projects for Church and Parabolic, including Walker's Home, says he was never paid. He turned down an interview, but court documents show he's sued Parabolic for more than $80,000 for all the work he's done. Money he says they're not sure he'll ever see. We also reached out to Bobby Lane Realy who also turned down an interview. But Lane did say she was blindsided to learn some of Church's business practices, but tells us she is removing Adam Church and Parabolic as owners of the anchor building and that is when she will be able to pay the subcontractors.

[00:03:54]Now, a lot going on here. Obviously, something we'll continue to follow very closely and there's more to it. Again, he's being investigated by the Sedwick County DA. There's also a case in Newton. Other counties around the state are also looking into him as well. Chris and Dev, this is someone who records show has taken out hundreds of thousands of dollars of uh loans uh to try and buy up these properties, try and fix a lot of these properties. Uh subcontractors still are not being paid. We reached out to Adam Church after that first story aired over the weekend. Sydney Ferguson did that story. Um Adam did agree to do an interview with her. I reached out, gave him a call today. Still haven't heard back. Uh a lot of the other people that we we spoke to, you heard say turn down interview. They want to do an interview. We do want to talk to them.

[00:04:35]We're hoping to do that very soon. Um but you know, we got to wait to see how the courts kind of play out until then.

[00:04:41]>> Yeah. Interesting to see if he'll call you now that the story has aired.

[00:04:45]>> Yeah, that's what we're hoping for.

[00:04:46]Thanks so much, Jack.