Trial for owner of Quincy pool and spa business placed on February trial docket; case against his wife dropped

QUINCY — The case against one of the former owners of a Quincy business facing two theft charges has been dismissed, but a trial for the other owner is on the February jury docket in Adams County.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brett Jansen filed a nolle prosequi — a formal entry of record by the prosecuting attorney who declares he or she is unwilling to prosecute a case — on Friday against Michelle M. Reardon, 52, of Spring Hill, Fla.

However, the trial against Andy P. Reardon, 58, was placed on the February jury docket during a pretrial hearing Friday morning in Adams County Circuit Court. Jansen said he expects the trial to last two days. St. Louis attorney Justin Summary asked Judge Scott Larson if the trial could be placed on the second week of the docket, scheduled to begin Feb. 10, to accommodate travel arrangements.

Larson said he would wait until Jan. 28, when a hearing is scheduled about a motion in limine filed on Friday by Summary — before setting the trial date.

“If it needs to be specifically set, we’ll see what we have the first week,” Larson said. “Sort of the easy answer is to put it the first case on (Feb.) 10th. We’re not setting it today for that date, but if it needs to be a specific date and time, it’s probably easiest for us. We’ll talk about that on that next hearing date.”

The Reardons were charged with two counts of theft by deception — one for between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 2 felony punishable for between three and seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, and one for between $500 and $10,000, a Class 3 felony punishable for between two and five years in prison.

The Reardons previously owned Backyard Adventures Pools and Spas LLC, 1800 Broadway, in Quincy. A Dec. 8, 2021, story in Muddy River News detailed multiple complaints filed by dissatisfied customers against the business for shoddy work installing pools and spas.

The Reardons were arrested and booked in the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2023 by the Hernando County Sheriff’s Department in Brooksville, Fla., on an Illinois warrant. 

An Adams County grand jury indicted the Reardons on Sept. 7, 2024, on both charges. Each count said the Reardons “knowingly obtained by deception control” over property — belonging to owner Melissa Drew on or about Nov. 22, 2021, in the first count and owners Stephen and Debra Kraus on or about Dec. 1, 2021, in the second count. The Reardons allegedly took money from Drew and the Krauses and deceived them about what they were supposed to get.

The case was set to go to trial in August, but Summary said at a July 9 hearing he was unprepared because he was waiting on four years of bank records. Brenner moved the case to the October jury trial docket, and it was moved again to December before Larson put it on the February docket.

Summary’s motion in limine that was filed Friday asked that hearsay statements from Drew and Keith Sable not be allowed during a trial. Summary’s motion said Sable “claimed” to be a senior customer care consultant with Watkin Wellness.

He said the hearsay statements will claim Backyard Adventures violated its dealer agreement with Watkin Wellness when the owners moved from Quincy and failed to notify the company that someone else would be taking over the business. The hearsay statements also will claim Drew’s spa was ordered on Nov. 28, 2021, and Watkin Wellness requested on July 1, 2022, a $9,000 payment from Backyard Adventures to begin production but Backyard Adventures did not provide payment and would not provide a response.

“The alleged out-of-court statements would be used to prove the truth of the matter asserted,” Summary wrote. “Such alleged statements are false and contradicted by other evidence produced in this case. Allowing such statements to be heard by the jury without allowing for cross-examination of Keith Sable would violate (Reardon’s) right of confrontation and prejudice (Reardon).”

Summary’s motion also asked to exclude testimony and exhibits pertaining to bank accounts other than Backyard Adventures business accounts, “as well as other irrelevant loan information.”

“The state has produced evidence of bank accounts and statements from another business, ‘Styl-It-2,’ a hair salon that Michelle Reardon operated,” Summary wrote. “The state also has produced information about irrelevant loans for multiple vehicles, including one loan taken out in 2016, four years before any of the transactions in question.

“Such information is prejudicial and irrelevant to any of the issues in this case.”

Larson also said negotiations between Jansen and Summary would be allowed to remain open until 9 a.m. on Jan. 31.

Read more about the Reardons and Backyard adventures here.