Joel Matthew Caswell faces charges including wire fraud, tax evasion and aggravated identity theft; local businesses, residents have long history of court cases 

The FBI indictment of local businessman and longtime contractor Joel Matthew Caswell on charges of committing nearly two dozen felony financial crimes brought quick reaction from local business owners who reported their own dealings with Caswell dating back more than a decade.

Caswell, 30, of Jacksonville was arrested Friday, a spokesperson at the FBI field office in Portland confirmed, and made his first appearance — pleading not guilty — at the U.S. District Courthouse in Medford just hours later. He was later released.

According to an indictment filed in the case, Caswell faces four felony counts of wire fraud, three counts of tax evasion, one count of aggravated identity theft and 15 counts of failure to collect or truthfully account for and pay over tax.

The case against Caswell centers largely around the alleged defrauding of federal programs devised to offer relief to businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Grand jury charges in the indictment allege that between 2018 and 2022, Caswell applied for and received funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL).

PPP funds, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of April 2020, were intended to provide funds to help small businesses retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage interest payments, lease payments and utility payments.

Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) funds, via the federal Small Business Administration, were intended to provide low-interest financing to — in the case of small businesses — help employers make payroll and cover sick leave, production costs and other business obligations.

Between April 2020 and February 2022, according to the indictment, Caswell applied for PPP and EIDL funds for several of his registered businesses — Siskiyou Cascade Resources, Siskiyou Cascade Construction and Siskiyou Cascade Industries. The indictment alleges he falsified supporting documents to show that all three entities “had active employees when they did not.”

The indictment states that Caswell did not disclose his ownership in the various business entities and certified on applications that he would “not receive another loan under the PPP program.”

Caswell is alleged to have misrepresented the number of employees for each business and provided “fictitious supporting documentation” claiming more than $1.5 million in revenue for Siskiyou Cascade Construction and more than $1.2 million for Siskiyou Cascade Resources.

Wire fraud charges against Caswell in the indictment relate to an online application for EIDL funds, which he applied for using the names, and allegedly signing for, two adult victims in the case, including one who left the company prior to submission of the application.

When SBA approved the loan agreement and paid $224,000 to Siskiyou Cascade Industries, the bank account for SCI had a balance of less than $150 at the time funds were deposited. Caswell then allegedly transferred $70,000 of the federal funds to his Pearl Sport Group LLC for his Portland Nitro “ultimate frisbee team,” which he owned between 2022 and early 2024. The funds were reportedly used to rent Providence Park in Portland for an eight-day tournament.

Conditions of Caswell’s release on the federal charges include that he is prohibited from moving assets in or out of the Caswell Family Trust; Siskiyou Cascade Industries; CVI; or Caswell Ventures. Other conditions of bail included surrendering his passport; not discussing the case with his wife, Elyssa Caswell, with whom he is involved in divorce proceedings; and not possessing any mail, financial or identification documents in another person’s name.

No stranger to conflict

Former business partners and associates from around the state said they weren’t surprised by Caswell’s arrest. They recounted in interviews with the Rogue Valley Times more than a decade of experiences and court cases with the man.

Local businesses told the Times about encounters dating as far back as 2013 when then-19-year-old Caswell registered his first business entity, South Bay Logging. Contacted several times on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning by the Times, Caswell did not respond to a voicemail or text messages seeking comment.

Since his South Bay Logging days, Caswell has amassed nearly 20 business entities according to the Oregon Secretary of State website and was listed as a founding partner of https://www.streetsimplified.com/, a digital traffic-safety analytics service agency, but no longer appears on the business website.

Alex Poythress, a former Medford City Council member and former close family friend of Joel Caswell, said Caswell had amassed a slew of lawsuits related to filings of fraudulent lawsuits, invalid liens against properties and frequent breaches of contract.

Poythress, CEO of Moore Construction, which has a current court case against Caswell for more than $150,000, said the federal charges “lay out, in detail, what dozens of local business owners have learned over the last few years: this wasn’t a misunderstanding — it was a pattern.” 

“Joel made a living off the trust of businesses like ours, stringing people along until there was nothing left to recover,” Poythress alleged.

“This indictment is long overdue. The only difference now is that his scheme finally reached someone with the teeth — and the resources — to hit back.”

A former business colleague, who described himself as a one-time mentor who parted ways with Caswell but declined to be named when contacted by the Times, said Caswell’s arrest was “something in the making for a long, long time.”

The man said Caswell was referred to locally as “Teflon Joel,” a reference to “Teflon Don” John Gotti, a notorious crime family boss who often evaded consequences for his business dealings.

One-time partner hopes to warn others about Caswell

Caswell’s former investment partner, Tim Thompson, declined to go into detail on Caswell’s criminal charges but confirmed his former partnership with Caswell — Caswell Thompson LLC — which Caswell formed in 2014, adding Thompson and a name change in 2017.

Thompson said company offices were raided by federal law enforcement in August 2022 and that he fired Caswell as the company’s timber and land manager in February 2023, then expelled him from the partnership in August 2023.

Caswell was arrested in November 2023 on multiple charges of unlawful manufacture of marijuana and unlawful possession of marijuana. A trial set for that case in March was canceled, and the case was dismissed, according to Medford criminal defense attorney Christopher Missiaen.

Thompson said he has had no relationship with Caswell since 2023 but had “been speaking up as a concerned member of the community who hopes that speaking up can help others not to be financially harmed in the future.”

Medford resident Andrew “AJ” Zanitsch was listed as a member of Siskiyou Cascade Industries when it was first registered with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office in September 2019. In January 2020, Caswell’s name was removed, and Zanitsch was then listed as president or owner. Contacted by the Times, Zanitsch declined to comment.

Skylar Kelly, owner of Men of Steel Construction, said he worked for one of Caswell’s Siskiyou Cascade entities around 2016, beginning with a HUD project in Central Point. Subsequent jobs, including a painting job at the Mt. Ashland Ski Area lodge and a commercial building in Medford, came with warnings from other contractors about working with Caswell.

“I remember the guy who was running the ski lodge… called me up and said, ‘Have you been paid yet?’ He said he was starting to hear of sub-contractors not getting paid,” Kelly said.

When a $5,850 bill for a painting job went unpaid, Kelly wrote off the debt versus face, he said, an “uphill battle” from Caswell, who he said “would just bury me in paperwork until it went away.”

Poythress said he hoped Caswell’s recent arrest would create awareness in the community and “prevent additional victims.”

“How did we, Southern Oregon, allow this to go on for so long?” Poythress asked.

“So many people have seen it and turned a blind eye to it and I think now maybe there’s kind of a reckoning that has to happen.”

For every court case filed against Caswell, Poythress surmised there have been “many, many more” victims who declined to file lawsuits.

A lengthy record of court cases amassed since 2019

According to Jackson and Josephine County Circuit Court records, a dozen recorded judgments against Caswell total more than $630,000 with just one judgment — $251,905 owed to Rogue Credit Union — marked as “satisfied.”

The remaining judgments include cases for which judgments remain unpaid to businesses including Diamond Home Hardware, American Express, Knife River Corporation, Leasing Innovators and Pine Ridge Meadows LLC.

In most cases, suits filed in local circuit courts relate to breach of contract or unpaid debts.

The case filed by Rogue Credit Union in 2019, for the now-satisfied $251,905 judgment, was for “overdraft of a checking account.”

Pending and resolved cases have run the gamut for everything from breach of contract and financial abuse to unpaid parking fines.

Knife River Corporation sued Caswell and Siskiyou Cascade Construction in June 2019 for more than $122,000 for materials Caswell allegedly failed to pay for during a parking lot project for Rock Point RV Park in Gold Hill; a lien was created for $225,015 in that case but was later dismissed.

Another suit by Rogue Credit Union, against Siskiyou Cascade in 2019 for $429,536, was also dismissed.

A case alleging breach of contract and financial abuse, filed by Gold Hill resident Calvin King, alleged Caswell agreed to complete the Rock Point RV parking lot project by June 2018 for costs “not to exceed $693,269.” King said he paid Caswell $833,465 — well beyond the agreed-upon amount — and that when King rejected demands for additional money, Caswell allegedly forged a $251,923 check on King’s bank account. The case was ultimately dismissed.

As a result of unpaid subcontractors on the project managed by Caswell, lawsuits were filed against King by subcontractors including LTM ($186,519); Knife River Corporation ($132,772) and Express Excavation ($105,789), court records show.

Additional cases filed in recent years in circuit court include breach of contract cases by Leasing Innovations ($38,546); Rogue Credit Union ($63,777); American Express National Bank ($55,782.67); and Capital One ($11,691.61).

Fidelity Collection Service filed suit on behalf of Diamond Parking against Caswell and Siskiyou Cascade Resources for $31,654.23 in unpaid parking fees and related fines.

In May 2021, SP Group Capital Management LLC filed suit against Caswell; Caswell’s then-business-partner Timothy Thompson; Caswell Thompson, LLC, and the Caswell Family Trust for over $12 million for misappropriation of corporate assets, breach of duty of loyalty and duty of care, breach of operating agreement, expulsion, and fraud. 

The suit, which ultimately was settled and dismissed, alleged a partnership had been formed between SP Group and Caswell Thompson LLC in 2020, dubbed CTSP, for the purpose “of obtaining and monetizing over 6,000 acres of timber land in Jackson and Josephine counties.”

SP Group alleged that Caswell Thompson LLC wrongfully asserted ownership of CTSP assets and sold assets for its own benefit “without accounting to CTSP or SP Group.”

In 2022, Vitosha Management LLC sued Caswell, Zeb Siedel (dba Bar None Auctions) and Siskiyou Cascade Industries for $100,000 alleging Caswell and his LLC took possession, and transferred property, without authorization.

Caswell filed suit against Thompson in 2023, seeking more than $4.8 million for breach of contract and misappropriation of corporate assets. The suit stated that Thompson had, since 2014, “acted as a business and personal mentor” to Caswell for many years and was “implicitly trusted by the Plaintiff in large part because of his title as an ordained Reverend and his purported Christian values.” The suit was dismissed for lack of filings.

A suit filed by Thompson in February referenced the $4.8 million suit, claiming Caswell sabotaged property sales by Pine Ridge Meadows LLC, owned by Thompson, utilizing “paper terrorism,” via filing fraudulent claims.

Thompson’s attorneys detailed an “established history of wrongfully leveraging invalid liens and other forms of fraud to harm Petitioner’s affiliate businesses.” Thompson’s Pine Meadows LLC has been awarded three judgments in Jackson County Circuit Court against Caswell, totalling more than $56,000 in penalties and legal fees. All three are listed unsatisfied, according to court records.

The suit involving Pine Meadows made mention of a forged promissory note from Caswell’s father, Roger Caswell, allegedly written by Joel Caswell in Thompson’s name. 

A suit filed by Roger Caswell, who owns Four Corners Forestry LLC, seeks $200,000 from Thompson for breach of promissory note.

Roger Caswell did not return a call or text message sent by the Times.

A more recent suit, filed in November 2024 by Wilderville residents Kenneth Kudrna and Ronda Wilkinson, seeks $152,000 for allegations of financial abuse of a vulnerable person and breach of contract by Caswell.

According to court documents, Caswell was paid $50,850 toward a $101,700 bridge project but failed to complete the work. The couple filed a complaint with the state contractors’ board and sent a demand letter for return of funds. Caswell, according to court documents, responded by issuing a “right to lien” against the couple, who later filed an elder abuse restraining order, and he threatened to remove an existing bridge on the couple’s property. 

White City-based Moore Construction, where Poythress is the CEO, filed suit in March 2025 against three of Caswell’s business entities: 316 S Front Street LLC; 40 East 10th Street LLC; and Siskiyou Cascade Industries LLC. 

The suit alleges that Caswell agreed to pay $264,676.61 for improvements to a building at the corner of Front and 10th streets in Medford. According to court documents, a “single progress payment of $106,369.60” was made by Caswell with the remaining $158,307 unpaid.

Moore Construction filed a construction lien against the property in December and is seeking legal fees and other costs incurred.

Beyond circuit court records, a case filed in Oregon’s U.S. District Court in December by Washington-based PACCAR Financial resulted in a $241,843.57 judgment against Caswell and his business entity, Siskiyou Cascade Resources, for breach of contract and violations of a pair of lease agreements.

A jury trial for the federal charges pending against Caswell is set for 9 a.m. June 24 at the federal courthouse in Eugene.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that a trial against Joel Caswell for unlawful manufacture of marijuana and unlawful possession of marijuana was dismissed, according to Medford criminal defense attorney Christopher Missiaen.