NC Attorney General's Office asks for restraining order against business owner

GRANITE FALLS, N.C. — The North Carolina Attorney General is taking action against a businessman Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke's been following for more than two years.

The A.G.'s Office is asking a judge for a restraining order against Alan Huffman. It said his "conduct is far more (and far worse) than mere incompetence." It wants the court to force Huffman to give customers their money back, return their machines, and stop "accepting advance payment" from others.

Legal filing mentions Action 9

The motion for the restraining order includes more than 100 pages of evidence against Huffman and even mentions Action 9 on Page 7, saying Huffman was "... desperate ... to resolve all complaints ... because a reporter for a TV station in Charlotte ... was planning a story ..."

CLICK HERE to view the filing

The AG's Office said it received nearly 50 complaints against Huffman since late 2012. Customers from all over the world say they gave Huffman money, but had trouble getting him to do the work. Some say they waited years for action on his end.

Huffman owns Antiquities Vending, a vending machine restoration business in Granite Falls.

Stoogenke received about a dozen complaints about him since 2014. After he got involved, Huffman resolved some complaints and told Stoogenke he would keep doing so.

Stoogenke: "Is this finally done or is this going to keep happening? Are we going to see more complaints? Are we going to hear more from the A.G.'s Office?"

Huffman: "No. No. No."

But 20 months -- and 26 complaints later -- the AG's Office summoned Huffman to Raleigh to defend himself in person. Stoogenke was there when Huffman came out of that 2015 meeting.

Stoogenke: "When I interviewed you last time, I mean, you looked me straight in the eye and you said, 'This is not going to keep happening, no, no no.' And here we are again."

Huffman: "This year ... one of my painters that I had since 1992 passed away."

But customers like Jose Ponce are still complaining.

Ponce said he gave Huffman two Coke machines to restore and more than $1,600, but that Huffman only gave him excuses and that it's been almost two years. He says he even went from his home in Virginia to Granite Falls five times -- and his son twice -- to confront Huffman in person.

"At the point ... I'm reaching out to (Action 9), weighing my legal options. I don't know what to do," he said.

Huffman's response

Huffman texted Action 9 a few comments: "Need to finish up current projects only."

"There were 35 / 40 projects being completed when I met with (the AG's office). Lot of those have been completed now ... last few are now being completed. These were projects and when taken in were to be painted by outside the company painters. We stopped using outside painters."

"We have operated 26 years and used outside painters for all projects for 24.5 of those years. The projects you refer to were taken in when we used outside painters and projects backed up. We made a change to complete the projects and never contract out anything ever again.

"I am fully cooperating with (AG's) office till the last if the projects are completed. I will let you know in the future if I have anything else to say, I will continue to work with them and complete the projects."