Cole gets 50 years

The former owner of Monarch Hunting Products will spend up to the next 50 years behind bars.

Story by Craig Nyhus, Lone Star Outdoor News

In 2018, Joseph Charles “Chuck” Cole, 55, of Maypearl, had been placed on deferred adjudication for misapplication of fiduciary property over $200,000, a first-degree felony. Parker County District Judge Craig Towson assessed Cole’s restitution at more than $1.5 million, and ordered Cole to pay $13,164 per month toward restitution.

Cole, also a homebuilder, was on probation for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Parker County woman.

At a hearing on July 29, prosecutors showed that Cole had paid only $1,291 in restitution and told his probation officer he didn’t have any money coming in. However, Cole had actually received and diverted more than $1 million, buying a beach house in Florida, multiple vehicles including a BMW and a Porsche.

One of the new owners of Monarch Hunting Products, Corey Lehr, testified under subpoena and told the court that Cole represented the company had profits of about $125,000 annually. However, Cole’s tax returns indicated that he represented to the Internal Revenue Service that he was losing money every year, with a loss of over $400,000 in the last three years.

“We’re ready to put this behind us and move on,” Lehr told Lone Star Outdoor News, noting he and his wife, Dixie, planned to operate Monarch Hunting Products with integrity.

Although Cole was ordered to give all of his financial account numbers and information to his probation officer, he gave only a fraction of that information and used multiple accounts to conceal assets.

Records admitted during the hearing also showed that, instead of paying restitution, Cole gave tens of thousands of dollars to his daughters, paid for their college, spent thousands on vacations, and took out over $40,000 in cash.

Cole is also on deferred adjudication in Tarrant County for misapplication of fiduciary property of $100,000 to $200,000. In that offense, he embezzled money intended to build a home in Fort Worth.

Two other victims from 2002 and 2008 testified that Cole embezzled from them related to construction projects, with amounts totaling over a million dollars.

Judge Towson revoked Cole’s probation and sentenced him to 50 years in prison.