Bragg
One of the owners of a former Whiteland hot rod restoration shop accused of defrauding dozens of their customers will serve six years in federal prison.
John E. Bragg II, formerly of Nashville, Greenwood and West Virginia, was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for wire fraud by Judge Curtis L. Collier of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee. Following his release from imprisonment, the 47-year-old will be on supervised release for three years, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.
Bragg is an owner of JB Bugs Trick Truck N Rod, which maintained operations in several locations, including in Tennessee and Indiana. In Indiana, the company operated as JB Bugs Trick & Truck Shop LLC and Palm Principals LLC — collectively under the name JB Bugs — with a location at 1751 E. County Road 500 North, Whiteland.
JB Bugs purportedly restored and sold classic and rare Volkswagen vehicles. Federal prosecutors say Bragg presented himself and his business to be specialists in Volkswagen restoration, including by participating in online communities of Volkswagen enthusiasts and appearing at functions such as automobile conventions.
Using these claims, Bragg became acquainted with his victims and defrauded them. One instance of such fraud included “selling” a vintage 23-window Volkswagen Microbus to various investors, even though another person owned the vehicle and Bragg was never entitled to offer it for sale, prosecutors said.
As part of the plea agreement filed with the federal court in Tennessee, Bragg agreed to plead guilty to one count of an indictment charging him with wire fraud. He was also ordered to pay a money judgment of $79,500 and over $300,000 in restitution to his victims.
The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation led by the U.S. Secret Service in conjunction with state and local law enforcement partners in Indiana and Tennessee. It is also just one of several legal cases Bragg is involved with in connection to the hot rod shop.
Since June 2022, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office has sought Bragg, who is charged locally with two counts of fraud as a Level 6 felony, one count of theft as a Level 6 felony and one count of theft as a misdemeanor. The owner of the building that housed the shop told deputies he rented it to a “John ‘J.B.’ Goode,” who had failed to pay rent for the shop for three months, according to court documents.
John Goode is an alias of Bragg’s, detectives say. While they were at the business, they took reports from multiple people alleging that Bragg had taken their money and not done the work he agreed to do on vehicles they had asked him to restore.
They also wanted to speak to his girlfriend Melanie Goode, the shop’s other owner. One of defrauded customers’ checks was deposited in an account belonging to the business/Goode, court documents show.
The search for Bragg took detectives to West Virginia before he was finally arrested in North Carolina on March 4, 2023. Goode was not in North Carolina with Bragg. While she is not wanted in Johnson County, Lawrence County sheriff’s deputies were looking for her in connection to charges there, officials said last year.
The same month Bragg was arrested in North Carolina, the Indiana Attorney General’s office sued JB Bugs, Bragg and Goode for their failure to perform work after taking payments from customers seeking restoration of vintage Volkswagen vehicles. State officials say 20 consumers paid JB Bugs more than $240,000 without the company restoring the consumers’ vehicles or providing any refunds. Officials say the defendants violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act’s prohibition on deceptive and unfair business practices.
A default judgment was entered against them, in the state’s favor, on Dec. 15, 2023 by Johnson Superior Court 1 Judge Kevin Barton. They were also barred from owning a business based or operating in Indiana that engages in consumer transactions. The companies associated with them were barred from taking consumer deposits for work not yet performed, court documents show.
Barton ruled Bragg and Goode must pay $242,225 in restitution to the 20 consumers they defrauded. They were also assessed a civil penalty of $100,000 for 20 violations of the Indiana code — $5,000 per violation. Another civil penalty of $10,000 was assessed for 20 deceptive acts at $500 per violation, according to court documents.
No judgment has been paid yet, according to online court records.
Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess was pleased to learn of Bragg’s conviction, as he “destroyed folks’ dreams.” Burgess feels for the victims, and said he felt like it didn’t seem like enough time, he said.
While Bragg has been sentenced federally, it may be a while before he’ll make it back to Johnson County to face charges, Burgess said.
“He’s got a lot of victims across the United States,” he said.
There was great cooperation with other law enforcement agencies throughout the various investigations, Burgess said. The system worked the way it’s supposed to, and now it’s time to see how everything else will work out, he said.
The victims may get some restitution, but it will likely not be as much as they gave Bragg, Burgess said.
“Will it be what they spent? No. It never gets to that point,” he said.
