I-80 Equipment stock goes to auction block

Hundreds of people placed their bids on items leftover from I-80 equipment in Colona Tuesday.

This is the latest in a series of reports we brought to you about this company. Local 4 and Fox 18 News were the first to bring this video of the massive fire that burned the I-80 Equipment building to the ground in February. We stayed on the story long after the flames were extinguished.

Local 4 and Fox 18 News found out owner Erik Jones filed for bankruptcy in December. That sent us looking into Jones’ other business activity surrounding two rental property companies — JP Rentals and Jones Lease Properties. We dug into online court records and found banks taking back control of several properties. His tenants told us they couldn’t get a hold of their landlord and feared they’d lose their homes. 

The auction company says about 100 buyers showed up in person and another 100 placed their bids online, but they wouldn’t reveal how much was made during the sale. 

However, we learned from bankruptcy court records that Jones owed 52 creditors more than $12.6 million.

The money from the auction would help pay that off. We found First Midwest Bank and Vibrant Credit Union are owed the most — more than $10 million.

The bankruptcy trustee for I-80 Equipment organized the auction in a little more than a month. 

Documents we obtained from the trustee say they had to clear the stock because insurance and storage fees on it have already cost them $111,000.