Hero Restoration, Anyone know the latest? 24 24

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:44 PM, revat said:

I can’t imagine it’s in anyone’s interest here on boards to track the total amount,  unless they are a lawyer making a civil/criminal claim or law enforcement.  The number is almost certainly a moving target anyways with some books returned, differing opinions on values, and new claims coming to light relatively often, as well as other action occurring privately.  

It’s enough knowing “the losses are enough that it’s SERIOUS by any reasonable measures”, to the extent that anyone reading this should A) try not to do business with Hero Restorations and B) report any losses to law enforcement and C) not expect a quick remedy (though theoretically you could luck into one).  

Any individual here knowing the total losses probably wouldn’t materially impact anyone’s decision making.

Yes Law enforcement is involved. And Hero Restoration is out of business.  I have no idea if Mike or his associates are doing business locally.  Since Law enforcement IS involved and I know of individuals pursuing legal action, I think it would be helpful to come up with a best effort list.  I have not heard of anyone getting anything back from Mike for many many months now.  Basically help Law Enforcement, since there is a lot of moving parts to this whole ordeal.  

Edited May 30 by Neo "The One"

[revat]

On 5/30/2024 at 5:59 AM, Neo "The One" said:

Yes Law enforcement is involved. And Hero Restoration is out of business.  I have no idea if Mike or his associates are doing business locally.  Since Law enforcement IS involved and I know of individuals pursuing legal action, I think it would be helpful to come up with a best effort list.  I have not heard of anyone getting anything back from Mike for many many months now.  Basically help Law Enforcement, since there is a lot of moving parts to this whole ordeal.  

I kinda see the logic, but turning over some sort of 'master list' to law enforcement when you may not have all the facts about each victim, and have not vetted them, and other victims trust (but shouldn't trust) their memories instead of documents of the situations is a slippery tactic. 

You should encourage every one to report their issue to law enforcement individually or an attorney individually (it can be the same attorney).  If you, as another victim (or third party) collect and turn in specific information later proved to be incomplete or wrong or unproveable, it can hurt your credibility as a witness and the credibility of the civil/criminal court case (assuming it goes that far).   Think of how it would go on a cross examination by defense in court when they're asking you about a list you compiled based on the word of internet strangers, and the actual documents presented show numbers very very different to the ones you compiled (and not even because of anything nefarious, just because people are trying to remember stuff that happened 5 years ago, and forgetting about 1 book could literally mean $10K difference).  The police/attorney would need to get an individual statement from each victim either way if they were to count it for the case, but if their statement doesn't match the statement you turned in, the police may have to do extra work to sort out the difference.

 

I do understand there could be some good done with a list of missing books for those who wish to share with boardies, but I'm 1000% sure there's plenty of boardies who have read this thread and are victims and have said nothing for one reason or another BUT have reported to the authorities, which would never be counted in whatever helpful list you might be provided by a boardie to the police.

Bottom line:  Encourage folks to report crimes if they believe crimes have been committed.  If the police or an attorney come to you and ask for some specific help, that's a different story.

[boreds]

Mike should be doing hard time for this. What a world we live in where scamming people out of millions means less than the (other) minor crimes he's committed. I know some have sympathy for the guy, but this entire situation is not right. The way he's acted after the fact doesn't make it any better. The customers lose in the end, and you can't get blood from a stone. Mike was the only winner here. 

[RockMyAmadeus]

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/30/2024 at 12:48 PM, revat said:

I kinda see the logic, but turning over some sort of 'master list' to law enforcement when you may not have all the facts about each victim, and have not vetted them, and other victims trust (but shouldn't trust) their memories instead of documents of the situations is a slippery tactic. 

You should encourage every one to report their issue to law enforcement individually or an attorney individually (it can be the same attorney).  If you, as another victim (or third party) collect and turn in specific information later proved to be incomplete or wrong or unproveable, it can hurt your credibility as a witness and the credibility of the civil/criminal court case (assuming it goes that far).   Think of how it would go on a cross examination by defense in court when they're asking you about a list you compiled based on the word of internet strangers, and the actual documents presented show numbers very very different to the ones you compiled (and not even because of anything nefarious, just because people are trying to remember stuff that happened 5 years ago, and forgetting about 1 book could literally mean $10K difference).  The police/attorney would need to get an individual statement from each victim either way if they were to count it for the case, but if their statement doesn't match the statement you turned in, the police may have to do extra work to sort out the difference.

 

I do understand there could be some good done with a list of missing books for those who wish to share with boardies, but I'm 1000% sure there's plenty of boardies who have read this thread and are victims and have said nothing for one reason or another BUT have reported to the authorities, which would never be counted in whatever helpful list you might be provided by a boardie to the police.

Bottom line:  Encourage folks to report crimes if they believe crimes have been committed.  If the police or an attorney come to you and ask for some specific help, that's a different story.

Cool.  It's funny (but not funny).  Someone else hit me up via the herorestorationcomic.com website - and he was on the ORGINAL THREAD when things went south with Mike.  I sent him the info I have, but it still amazes me that so many people have taken 'non action' and are still struggling with this.  

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/30/2024 at 1:10 PM, boreds said:

Mike should be doing hard time for this. What a world we live in where scamming people out of millions means less than the (other) minor crimes he's committed. I know some have sympathy for the guy, but this entire situation is not right. The way he's acted after the fact doesn't make it any better. The customers lose in the end, and you can't get blood from a stone. Mike was the only winner here. 

You know.  I did have sympathy for him at one time.  Health issues and the like.  But at some point everything starts sounding like an excuse, and now that a ton of books worth large sums are seemingly gone in addition to monies and services NOT rendered, I have lost all sympathy.  

[revat]

On 5/30/2024 at 12:04 PM, Neo "The One" said:

Cool.  It's funny (but not funny).  Someone else hit me up via the herorestorationcomic.com website - and he was on the ORGINAL THREAD when things went south with Mike.  I sent him the info I have, but it still amazes me that so many people have taken 'non action' and are still struggling with this.  

Without getting into it, I have a career where I have dealt with numerous (and I do mean numerous) victims of fraud and financial crimes.  And even so I'm still shocked by how many people don't come forward, or are hesitant to come forward, even when the truth is staring them in the face OR law enforcement action is taken and their best chance of recovery is actually reporting the crime.

These are some of the factors (in no particular order) that I personally have witnessed of why people hesitate or refuse to come forward and report to law enforcement, especially when they don't think they can recover any compensation.

 

1.  Mistrust of law enforcement or the legal system - don't like dealing with lawyers and/or police.

2.  Embarrassment - people like to believe they're not easily tricked, reporting to the police would be a public and legal admission of it.

3.  Don't want a family member (usually a spouse) to find out about this financial loss, even though they are a victim.

4.  Just don't want the hassle - it was a long time ago: I'm gonna fill out forms, give official statements to police, potentially get subpoenaed or called to testify, not worth it

5.  They've already processed the trauma and don't want to dredge up the negative feelings and stress

6.  They think their best chance of recovery (usually because the suspect has told them so) is to give the suspect more time to complete the project or get more money.

7.  They are afraid of the suspect, either of physical harm or that the suspect can negatively impact their life in some other way.

8.  The victim has done something than they feel is less than ethical in the course of the whole ordeal and would like to stay off of the governments radar - examples include: unreported income on tax forms, physical threats made against the fraudster, and having to answer the question of why they didn't report to the police sooner when they knew this fraudster was hurting people.

9.  They think that there are enough other victims and their involvement or non-involvement won't impact the final outcome.

 

It can be some, all, or none of these reasons.  However if you can narrow in on a reason for hesitancy/reluctance, you can make a plan to allay those concerns, if that is your goal.

[ExNihilo]

On 5/25/2024 at 6:44 PM, revat said:

It’s a long thread to read through.

AND on top of that, it's the second such thread.

[Mr. Zipper]

On 5/30/2024 at 3:07 PM, Neo "The One" said:

You know.  I did have sympathy for him at one time.  Health issues and the like.  But at some point everything starts sounding like an excuse, and now that a ton of books worth large sums are seemingly gone in addition to monies and services NOT rendered, I have lost all sympathy.  

Same. From knowing Mike for so long I gave him the benefit of the doubt way more than I should have. Seeing the horribly damaged books that had been with him for years erased any traces of sympathy left. This shows the reckless and deceitful behavior was going on way before the medical issues and personal problems. He was taking peoples' books and money knowing he could not competently complete the work.

[thehumantorch]

On 5/30/2024 at 2:53 PM, Mr. Zipper said:

On 5/30/2024 at 1:07 PM, Neo "The One" said:

You know.  I did have sympathy for him at one time.  Health issues and the like.  But at some point everything starts sounding like an excuse, and now that a ton of books worth large sums are seemingly gone in addition to monies and services NOT rendered, I have lost all sympathy.  

Same. From knowing Mike for so long I gave him the benefit of the doubt way more than I should have. Seeing the horribly damaged books that had been with him for years erased any traces of sympathy left. This shows the reckless and deceitful behavior was going on way before the medical issues and personal problems. He was taking peoples' books and money knowing he could not competently complete the work.

Come on guys, don't you know that saying all these mean things will make it difficult for Mike to victimize more suckers turn things around and make everyone whole?

[Sauce Dog]

Latest horror story from Hero Restoration that Kenny was trying to fix.

A TEC #29 arrived with SUPER bleached interiors - whiter than the sun - but it was soon noticed that these pages were NOT from that comic but rather a TEC #31....Mike sent the customer someone elses mega grail pages he was working on (so now not only does he have two super damaged Action Comics that Mike destroyed but also he only has the cover for his TEC29 he submitted and somebodies TEC31). 

Kenny reached out to me with the details hoping I could help, and lo-and-behold I was able to figure out who submitted that TEC31 and thankfully I had all his submission contact details in my backup DB! He submitted it way back in 2017 and never got it back, he even sent lawyers after Mike, but eventually had to assume it was lost forever. At least that collector gets a happy ending, as Kenny is going to finish the pages and reassemble the book for him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7mzcCwvRRA/

 

 

Edited May 30 by Sauce Dog

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/30/2024 at 3:42 PM, revat said:

Without getting into it, I have a career where I have dealt with numerous (and I do mean numerous) victims of fraud and financial crimes.  And even so I'm still shocked by how many people don't come forward, or are hesitant to come forward, even when the truth is staring them in the face OR law enforcement action is taken and their best chance of recovery is actually reporting the crime.

These are some of the factors (in no particular order) that I personally have witnessed of why people hesitate or refuse to come forward and report to law enforcement, especially when they don't think they can recover any compensation.

 

1.  Mistrust of law enforcement or the legal system - don't like dealing with lawyers and/or police.

2.  Embarrassment - people like to believe they're not easily tricked, reporting to the police would be a public and legal admission of it.

3.  Don't want a family member (usually a spouse) to find out about this financial loss, even though they are a victim.

4.  Just don't want the hassle - it was a long time ago: I'm gonna fill out forms, give official statements to police, potentially get subpoenaed or called to testify, not worth it

5.  They've already processed the trauma and don't want to dredge up the negative feelings and stress

6.  They think their best chance of recovery (usually because the suspect has told them so) is to give the suspect more time to complete the project or get more money.

7.  They are afraid of the suspect, either of physical harm or that the suspect can negatively impact their life in some other way.

8.  The victim has done something than they feel is less than ethical in the course of the whole ordeal and would like to stay off of the governments radar - examples include: unreported income on tax forms, physical threats made against the fraudster, and having to answer the question of why they didn't report to the police sooner when they knew this fraudster was hurting people.

9.  They think that there are enough other victims and their involvement or non-involvement won't impact the final outcome.

 

It can be some, all, or none of these reasons.  However if you can narrow in on a reason for hesitancy/reluctance, you can make a plan to allay those concerns, if that is your goal.

Thank you sir!  Wise words. 

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/30/2024 at 6:36 PM, thehumantorch said:

Come on guys, don't you know that saying all these mean things will make it difficult for Mike to victimize more suckers turn things around and make everyone whole?

Lmao

[Neo "The One"]

On 5/30/2024 at 6:59 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Latest horror story from Hero Restoration that Kenny was trying to fix.

A TEC #29 arrived with SUPER bleached interiors - whiter than the sun - but it was soon noticed that these pages were NOT from that comic but rather a TEC #31....Mike sent the customer someone elses mega grail pages he was working on (so now not only does he have two super damaged Action Comics that Mike destroyed but also he only has the cover for his TEC29 he submitted and somebodies TEC31). 

Kenny reached out to me with the details hoping I could help, and lo-and-behold I was able to figure out who submitted that TEC31 and thankfully I had all his submission contact details in my backup DB! He submitted it way back in 2017 and never got it back, he even sent lawyers after Mike, but eventually had to assume it was lost forever. At least that collector gets a happy ending, as Kenny is going to finish the pages and reassemble the book for him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7mzcCwvRRA/

 

 

Honestly - I don’t know you guys personally but you and Kenny are Great!  Truly stand up guys! 

[Kevin76]

From these posts of restoration fails, I'd say it's best to just leave your 0.5/1.0's alone  

[Semicentennial]

On 5/30/2024 at 3:59 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Latest horror story from Hero Restoration that Kenny was trying to fix.

A TEC #29 arrived with SUPER bleached interiors - whiter than the sun - but it was soon noticed that these pages were NOT from that comic but rather a TEC #31....Mike sent the customer someone elses mega grail pages he was working on (so now not only does he have two super damaged Action Comics that Mike destroyed but also he only has the cover for his TEC29 he submitted and somebodies TEC31). 

Kenny reached out to me with the details hoping I could help, and lo-and-behold I was able to figure out who submitted that TEC31 and thankfully I had all his submission contact details in my backup DB! He submitted it way back in 2017 and never got it back, he even sent lawyers after Mike, but eventually had to assume it was lost forever. At least that collector gets a happy ending, as Kenny is going to finish the pages and reassemble the book for him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C7mzcCwvRRA/

 

 

I hope they'll be able to find the other parts of that Tec #29.  Sucks for that owner especially being out that book for several years, only to have it returned to find out it's now missing it's interior pages.

[Copy801]

Hey, how can I add my name to this list. I have a book that I've been waiting for for about 4 years. I have email receipts and emails back and fourth with Mike before he went off the grid. The book is very important to me. Thanks all.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 6/5/2024 at 3:36 PM, Copy801 said:

Hey, how can I add my name to this list. I have a book that I've been waiting for for about 4 years. I have email receipts and emails back and fourth with Mike before he went off the grid. The book is very important to me. Thanks all.

@Neo "The One" @Sauce Dog have been keeping track of some stuff, but I'm not sure the details, just tagging them as your post had to be "approved as it is a 1st post and didn't bump the thread."

[revat]

On 6/5/2024 at 1:36 PM, Copy801 said:

Hey, how can I add my name to this list. I have a book that I've been waiting for for about 4 years. I have email receipts and emails back and fourth with Mike before he went off the grid. The book is very important to me. Thanks all.

Nothing wrong with being on a list taken by random internet strangers who are trying to help, but if I were you, I’d go through the thread and see which law enforcement agency I can file a police report with, or lawyers to contact.

I think it will increase your odds to you have filed something complete with facts with some official party, whether law enforcement or an attorney or both.  

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 6/5/2024 at 9:02 PM, revat said:

On 6/5/2024 at 3:36 PM, Copy801 said:

Hey, how can I add my name to this list. I have a book that I've been waiting for for about 4 years. I have email receipts and emails back and fourth with Mike before he went off the grid. The book is very important to me. Thanks all.

Nothing wrong with being on a list taken by random internet strangers who are trying to help, but if I were you, I’d go through the thread and see which law enforcement agency I can file a police report with, or lawyers to contact.

I think it will increase your odds to you have filed something complete with facts with some official party, whether law enforcement or an attorney or both.  

I second this and maybe should clarify it is what I meant by saying this

On 6/5/2024 at 8:27 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

@Neo "The One" @Sauce Dog have been keeping track of some stuff, but I'm not sure the details, just tagging them as your post had to be "approved as it is a 1st post and didn't bump the thread."

In other words, I don't have the info and @revat didn't find it either, I just thought for sure the two I tagged having had a "list" at one point could then point you to the legal recourse information, and not that they themselves are in any kind of legality way.