Little League Pays $5K for New Field Fence That Was Never Built

A New York Little League organization is struggling to prepare its field before the upcoming season after a company the league paid to do renovations declared bankruptcy. 

The Mechanicville-Stillwater Little League baseball field has been home to players since 1953. Last November enrollment increased to the point that president Scott Mullins had to add a new field. The league ended up paying James Butler, 30, of Scotia-based Trust a Fence a $5,700 down payment to do the work. 

“We were told that he would be starting a project very soon” Mullins told NEWS10. 

Soon after the agreement was made it was evident that Butler had no intention of doing the work. 

“He kept on giving us excuses, putting us off, and never ended up doing the work” Mullins explained.

Two months after giving the down payment, Butler’s attorney (Fairbanks-Fletcher Law PLLC) served the league with a Chapter 13 bankruptcy notice. As you can imagine, the player’s parents aren’t pleased.

“They feel like — that we have been duped and it’s gonna be hard to recoup from it” Mullins said. 

The $5,700 was 28 percent of the league's $20,000 budget for the project. 

“It’s in the lawyer’s hands now, and we’ve been told that after a long process, we’ll be lucky to see pennies on the dollar” Mullins shared.

Butler has been arrested and charged with 3rd-degree larceny. Police say a victim gave him $7,000 in cash for work materials, which were never purchased. Butler is now being investigated for similar incidents in other towns. 

Butler told NEWS10 that he will install a fence by about March 25th, adding that the situation was “blown out of proportion” and he’s “working to make things right.” He declined to comment on the other cases he’s charged in.