THIS IS HOW
THE ARREST STARTED.
START WITH WHAT THE INVESTOR ACTUALLY SIGNED.
The agreement identifies Bear Industries as the borrower, ties the investment to Bigley Avenue, provides security, and includes Teddy's personal guaranty. This was not an anonymous cash handoff with no paperwork.
LEE MADE PHILCO SOUND LIKE PROOF OF FRAUD.
The complaint used Teddy's supposed relationship with Philco as part of the fraud story. But the written investment agreement identifies Bear Industries as the borrower. Philco is not the borrower and the agreement does not identify Teddy as Philco's owner.
There was also an actual public dispute between the companies. Teddy and Bear Industries were in litigation with Philco on the other side. That is a very different picture from Teddy inventing a company relationship out of thin air.
THEN CAME THE STORY THAT TEDDY DIDN'T OWN THE PROJECT PROPERTY.
That accusation sounds devastating until you look at the property paperwork. The July 27, 2022 land contract identifies Philco LLC as seller and T&C Construction Services as purchaser for 1019 and 1021 Bigley Avenue. The contract also describes the storage-facility project.
LEE TURNED PHILCO'S VERSION OF THE PROPERTIES INTO ANOTHER ACCUSATION.
The FBI's theory also attacked whether the promised property work had actually happened. But the investigation leaned on Philco, the company already in a dispute with Teddy and his businesses. The records we have show property contracts and later requests for invoices, before-and-after photographs, and records of plumbing, electrical, painting, flooring, lot clearing, blueprints, stump removal and other work.
That distinction mattered. A disputed account from the seller was turned into part of a criminal-fraud narrative instead of being tested against the underlying project records.
THE DOCUMENTS WERE NOT
HIDDEN FROM THE FBI.
A CIVIL BUSINESS DISPUTE WAS PACKAGED AS A FEDERAL FRAUD CASE.
Lee's complaint took disputed statements about Philco, ownership and the condition of the properties and presented them as the foundation for arresting Teddy. But the underlying documents showed real contracts, real property transactions, a real dispute with Philco, and a written investment agreement identifying the borrower and security.
THIS WAS DEFINITELY NOT ENOUGH TO JUSTIFY ARRESTING A MAN WHO HAD NO CRIMINAL HISTORY AT ALL.
Before August 9, Teddy Miller had never been arrested on a felony charge and had no criminal history. Yet this complaint was used to put him in handcuffs and start everything that followed.