Polk County Sheriff’s Office investigators say back in 2019, longtime Lakeland general contractor Michael Sherwood Folsom, 43, was living the high life — buying real estate and starting to build a home and hunt camp in Alaska; purchasing multiple cars, trucks and boats; going on vacations, joining country clubs and buying sporting goods.
Now he’s headed to prison. Folsom was sentenced Friday to five years and four months in state prison for misappropriation of funds.
Stunning fall from grace
It was a stunning fall from grace for the fourth-generation Lakelander who was once a member of the Lakeland Planning and Zoning Board, president of the Learning Resource Center of Polk County, president of the board of directors of Platform Art, a member of the Lakeland Rotary Club and a candidate for an at-large seat on the Lakeland City Commission in 2013.
Folsom’s lavish spending in the year prior to his arrest included:
- $566,157 for property, site work, material, workers and equipment in Alaska.
- $95,000 to Kelly Buick GMC for down-payments on nine vehicles.
- $113,698 for a boat.
- $130,000 for a Mercedes-Benz.
- $140,153 for travel and lodging.
- $50,643 for meals and entertainment.
He could afford all that, sheriff’s investigators said, because he wasn’t paying multiple subcontractors on construction projects in Lakeland, Orlando, Sanford, Winter Garden, Tampa and Fayetteville, Ga. Those projects included the construction of two warehouses at 4000 and 4080 Combee Road for The Ruthvens, a Lakeland company that specializes in building and operating warehouses.
In all, they said, Folsom stole more than $1.4 million between October 2018 and August 2019, when he was confronted by Brandon Clark, vice president of The Ruthvens.
Clark called law enforcement and an audit was performed. Folsom was arrested in June 2020.
On Dec. 15, a jury found Folsom guilty of three counts of misappropriation of funds for real property valued at $100,000 or more and three counts of making or furnishing a false statement. He was acquitted of theft.
The scheme comes to light
By the time his scheme came to light, Folsom Construction Management’s chief financial officer, Weston Wilkes, had resigned after he also saw the large number of personal items Folsom was buying with company funds and warned him that the spending was questionable.
Then Clark called a meeting to find out why subcontractors were reaching out to him and asking if The Ruthvens had paid Folsom.
“According to Brandon Clark, this meeting resulted in Michael Folsom stating he maintained too much overhead and owed subcontractors $1.4 million in total,” PCSO Detective Kevin Loder wrote in his report.
But, Loder added, “During this investigation, evidence and records have been recovered that shows that between late 2018 and 2019, prior to FCM closing, Michael Folsom made large-scale purchases for his own personal benefit from funds originating from the FCM accounts and associated credit cards … It is also clear that Michael Folsom’s excessive spending habits led to the collapse of FCM …”
Although the unpaid bills were “directly as a result of FCM,” according to PCSO, The Ruthvens company helped to reduce the loss by paying $336,093 of the money owed to 10 subcontractors so none of them would go out of business.
After the partial payments from The Ruthvens, the amounts still owed were:
- Full Tilt Construction, Sanford – $362,490
- Eagle Fire Protection, Winter Garden – $120,095
- Harrison Construction – $94,935
- Ramcon Roofing, Tampa – $33,136
- Shade Systems, Fayetteville (GA) – $39,859
- The Awning Factory, Orlando – $46,589
- Miner, Orlando – $125,071
- Performance Electric, Lakeland – $83,489
- Midstate Caulking, Kissimmee – $23,896
- Aubrey Thompson Plumbing, Lakeland – $21,880
- Commercial Doorway, Lakeland – $5,883
- Angela Mays, Lakeland – $2,900.
Facing the consequences
Dressed in orange prison scrubs, Folsom learned his fate at a sentencing hearing at the 10th Judicial Circuit courthouse in Bartow on Friday.
Multiple subcontractors spoke, some for and others against prison time for Folsom. Even his ex-wife, Dennille Decker, asked for leniency, saying he was a good father to their daughter.
Greg Ruthven, the son of the Lakeland company’s founder, looked at Folsom and told him that he would ask the judge to reduce the sentence if Folsom would admit to what he had done instead of continuing to blame CFO Wilkes. Folsom said nothing.
“I’m sorry we’re here,” Ruthven said, continuing to look at Folsom as he spoke. “It’s a sad day for me. I did business with your grandfather. I did business with your father. We had a great relationship. Not one time did the original Folsom Construction not pay a sub. I don’t know what happened. You did a great job for us. I’m not sure what happened in the last year or so (of business) — you just seemed to lose touch. I don’t understand not paying your subs.”
Folsom’s grandfather, Hubert Folsom, founded Folsom Construction and his son Larry — Michael Folsom’s father — took over the company. Michael Folsom then branched out on his own with Folsom Construction Management.
Ruthven said what really made him angry was that Folsom stuck Ruthven’s 92-year-old father with the bill and the stress of the situation. Joe P. Ruthven passed away in December 2019 at the age of 92.
“That really fires me up — it’s a terrible thing to do,” Ruthven said. “I’m disappointed in you, I’m mad at you. I’m going to forgive you right here, right now because I can’t continue living the way I’ve been living for the last four years.”
Judge Sharon Franklin then sentenced Folsom to more than 64 months – five years and four months – in state prison.
The state attorney’s office is hoping to recoup $1.029 million in restitution, including $370,403 to the Ruthvens and $658,811 to be divided among five subcontractors. Franklin will make a decision about the amount of restitution in 60 days.
After Franklin announced her sentence and Folsom was led toward the courtroom exit, he looked over his shoulder at his family and mouthed, “Love you.”
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So sad for everyone involved.
Is not only in real state was happening this issues is every trade I can tell you alot of roofing companies they not pay their subs in Florida n they still doing it they should do an investigation to this companies