Columbia County Circuit Court
Columbia County Circuit Court
A Waukesha contractor overwhelmed with debt is now facing felony charges in Columbia and Dane County, accused of using payments from new clients to fund other projects, but leaving homeowners without their money or any home improvements.
Trevor Sumner, 42, appeared in Columbia County Circuit Court on July 22, on two counts of felony theft by contractor, originally filed by the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office in March.
According to the criminal complaint, the case dates back to late December, 2021, when a Poynette resident, with her husband, entered a contract with “Sun Badger Solar,” for installation of two solar panels on the roof of their home and a shed on their property. The contract included payment in two installments, adding up to about $88,000, which had been paid in January 2022.
The project had an estimated completion of spring 2022, but according to the homeowners, company president Sumner explained that there had been a series of delays due to weather and issues with Alliant Energy. According to Alliant, Sumner had been the cause of those delays.
Sun Badger Solar eventually installed “railing” for the panels in December 2022, but the work did not progress beyond that point. The following February, the homeowners contacted Sumner, but, according to the complaint, were not satisfied with the answers that were offered, and contacted the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 14 to report the situation.
A deputy later spoke with Sumner, who reportedly said that the company had encountered financial issues with a firm called “Sunlight Financial,” with Badger owing about $600,000, resulting in the company having to lay off 120 employees.
Any money left from the $88,000 paid by the Poynette couple, would have been spent on other projects, he told the officer.
In May 2026, the Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Poynette couple to pursue criminal charges, after discovering charges had been filed against Sumner in Dane County, and it remained that the work was still not completed and money not returned.
On March 17, the Dane County District Attorney filed charges of two counts of felony theft by contractor, as a party to a crime, against Sumner. Following his initial appearance, he was released on a signature bond, with a preliminary hearing set for Aug. 13.
In the Columbia County case, he was similarly released on a signature bond, and is scheduled to next be in court for a return hearing on Oct. 16.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Get our newsletters delivered right to your inbox.
Thanks for signing up. Keep an eye on your inbox for the next edition.
ℹ️ You may want to whitelist emails from
tribune-enterprise@adamspg-email.com
to make sure it doesn’t go to your spam folder!
Get the latest news, sports, and weather delivered to your inbox every Friday at 5:00 am.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:

source