A Kansas-based company that has yet to deliver three patrol vehicles to Mineral County is facing allegations of business fraud in multiple states.  

ESU Pursuits, LLC, a government vehicle supplier, is the target of at least two lawsuits filed this year in Kansas and Missouri for claims of unfulfilled orders and unpaid invoices for vendor services, according to court documents. 

Mineral County Attorney Debra Jackson launched her own investigation this summer after the company failed to deliver three of six patrol vehicles ordered by Mineral County Sheriff Ryan Funke on June 5, 2025. 

A lawsuit was filed in Kansas by a Texas-based motor vehicle dealership Sames Laredo Chevrolet, Inc., on Jan. 16, alleging that ESU Pursuits failed to deliver $810,600 worth of 2025 Tahoe 2WD vehicles in October 2025. The dealership later discovered that the vehicle identification numbers of the ordered vehicles either belonged to another entity or were also sold to other agencies, possibly including law enforcement, according to the lawsuit. 

The company was sued again on Feb. 18 by M&M Public Safety and Technology, LLC, in Jasper County, Missouri. The Arkansas-based emergency vehicle outfitter claims ESU Pursuits owes $135,590 in unpaid services, according to the lawsuit.  

Attorney Kevin Case, who represents both the Texas dealership and the Arkansas outfitter, told the Inter Lake that several agencies, including police departments, have reached out to him over the last few months with similar grievances against the company. 

"They're embarrassed by it," Case said.

The registered owner of ESU Pursuits, Richard Todd Berry, sold the vehicles in Kansas and Missouri without a valid vehicle dealer license, the lawsuit alleges. 

Berry, 51, has a prior criminal history and served time behind bars in Kansas for theft charges in 2002 and 2007, records show. He was released from Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas in 2011. 

Kansas state records show that Berry dissolved ESU Pursuits on June 23, nearly three years after he registered it on Oct. 5, 2023. Under reasons for dissolving the company, Berry wrote "health." 

A recently filed tax warrant by the Kansas Department of Revenue on Sept. 29 against ESU Pursuits shows that Berry owes $932 in unpaid consumer compensating use taxes to the state. 

JACKSON TOLD Mineral County commissioners on Sept. 24 she is still reviewing the records from the county sheriff that she received on Sept. 14. A thumb drive of the requested documents was turned in more than a month after she asked for them on July 28.  

Funke previously attributed the delay to an active FBI investigation into ESU Pursuits on allegations of business fraud. A spokesperson for the federal bureau said she could neither confirm nor deny the investigation.  

Commissioners voted May 22, 2025, to authorize Funke spending $353,688 to purchase six fully outfitted Dodge Durangos from ESU Pursuits. Funke said several vehicles in the fleet were nearing 100,000 miles, and that the dealer from ESU Pursuits gave him until June 8, 2025, to decide.  

"He said he can build six cars in six days," Funke said at the meeting.   

The money was loaned from a $2.9 million federal grant, called the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, that the county received during the pandemic. The fund has about $2.5 million remaining, according to Mineral County Clerk and Recorder Kelann McLees.  

These funds are intended to help reconstruct the 106-year-old Mineral County Courthouse, including replacing the detention center's roof and HVAC system and renovating the courthouse's entryway. 

Terms of the loan include repayment in four annual installments of $88,422, starting July 15, 2025. McLees said the first installment was paid in the 2025-26 fiscal year, and a second payment is scheduled for the 2026-27 fiscal year.  

Report for America Reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at 406-758-4439 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.