Travel Lite Back In Biz
October 23, 2019 at 11:11 p.m.
By Amanda [email protected]
Dustin and his wife, Lindsey, invested $5 million in May 2018 to build the company’s new headquarters at 100 Industrial Blvd. in the Syracuse 6 & 13 Industrial Park. The business was originally based in New Paris.
The Johns took ownership of Travel Lite in 2015, after Dustin’s father, who founded the business, sold it to them.
A halt in production in late August included laying off 125 employees, Dustin said, explaining the downturn in the RV industry hit his growing company harder than he had forecasted.
“The timing is bad,” Dustin said. “We’re trying to grow a massive company so quickly, and we just had to look ourselves in the mirror and say ‘Let’s settle down and get back to kicking butt.’”
That settling down meant consolidating the New Paris production into the Syracuse plant, Dustin said. It also meant restructuring who’s in charge.
Ryan Rebar took over as the new chief operations officer last month and Dustin said he has faith in Rebar to help lead the company.
“Ryan’s been with us for a while now,” Dustin said. “He was our national store manager, and now he’s running operations and he’s doing a fantastic job.”
Amid the halt in production and restructuring, Dustin was arrested for a DUI and a civil suit was filed against the Johns alleging fraud and breach of contract.
“Timing is kind of, I don’t know if it’s coincidental, but yeah, it looks bad,” Dustin said. “We are actually going to be filing to dismiss.”
Michael Dewitt filed the lawsuit Sept. 20 in Kosciusko Superior Court IV and claims the Johns entered into a purchase agreement on July 14, 2018, for 11199, 11200 and 11190 NE Wawasee Drive, Syracuse, for $4 million. The purchase agreement amendment states Johns would transfer 3.5 shares of Travel Lite Inc. stock, valued at $2.1 million, to Dewitt at closing, along with $1.885 million in cash and a $15,000 earnest money deposit.
Dewitt says the Johns provided him with fraudulent financial information regarding Travel Lite Inc., and the Travel Lite stock in connection with the sale and transfer of the stock. The sale of the stock in exchange for the real estate was a transaction covered by the Indiana Uniform Securities Act, Indiana Code 23-19. Dewitt is asking the court to order the Johns to transfer the real estate – the Johns’ family home – back to him and he will return the partial consideration previously paid. He’s also seeking $2.1 million in damages – the value of the stock from the deal – plus 8% interest, along with attorney fees and court costs.
The Johns were given until Oct. 31 to respond.
“The board of directors has been very upset that he did that,” Dustin said Wednesday. “When things are down, obviously you invest money and it goes down. Some people get their feelings hurt, I guess. The last five years I’ve taken this company 10 times than what it was. It does look bad, but it’s just gotta shake itself out.”
Dustin said anyone can sue anyone, but that in this case, he didn’t do anything wrong.
Referencing his DUI he picked up in September, Dustin said, “The stresses of what’s happened is hard to take, but I’m human.” He said those stresses in his personal life are removed from his ability to run Travel Lite.
“We’re going slow right now, hiring people a little bit each day, even one today, actually,” he said. “We’re getting it going. We’ll have more of a hard launch in the next two to three weeks.”
Dustin said the company has been selling down units and cleaning up their inventory by reevaluating and organizing.
“I’m trying to grow a company for the community,” Dustin said. “I had a personal goal to the be number one employer in the area, and I still believe I can.”
Dustin and his wife, Lindsey, invested $5 million in May 2018 to build the company’s new headquarters at 100 Industrial Blvd. in the Syracuse 6 & 13 Industrial Park. The business was originally based in New Paris.
The Johns took ownership of Travel Lite in 2015, after Dustin’s father, who founded the business, sold it to them.
A halt in production in late August included laying off 125 employees, Dustin said, explaining the downturn in the RV industry hit his growing company harder than he had forecasted.
“The timing is bad,” Dustin said. “We’re trying to grow a massive company so quickly, and we just had to look ourselves in the mirror and say ‘Let’s settle down and get back to kicking butt.’”
That settling down meant consolidating the New Paris production into the Syracuse plant, Dustin said. It also meant restructuring who’s in charge.
Ryan Rebar took over as the new chief operations officer last month and Dustin said he has faith in Rebar to help lead the company.
“Ryan’s been with us for a while now,” Dustin said. “He was our national store manager, and now he’s running operations and he’s doing a fantastic job.”
Amid the halt in production and restructuring, Dustin was arrested for a DUI and a civil suit was filed against the Johns alleging fraud and breach of contract.
“Timing is kind of, I don’t know if it’s coincidental, but yeah, it looks bad,” Dustin said. “We are actually going to be filing to dismiss.”
Michael Dewitt filed the lawsuit Sept. 20 in Kosciusko Superior Court IV and claims the Johns entered into a purchase agreement on July 14, 2018, for 11199, 11200 and 11190 NE Wawasee Drive, Syracuse, for $4 million. The purchase agreement amendment states Johns would transfer 3.5 shares of Travel Lite Inc. stock, valued at $2.1 million, to Dewitt at closing, along with $1.885 million in cash and a $15,000 earnest money deposit.
Dewitt says the Johns provided him with fraudulent financial information regarding Travel Lite Inc., and the Travel Lite stock in connection with the sale and transfer of the stock. The sale of the stock in exchange for the real estate was a transaction covered by the Indiana Uniform Securities Act, Indiana Code 23-19. Dewitt is asking the court to order the Johns to transfer the real estate – the Johns’ family home – back to him and he will return the partial consideration previously paid. He’s also seeking $2.1 million in damages – the value of the stock from the deal – plus 8% interest, along with attorney fees and court costs.
The Johns were given until Oct. 31 to respond.
“The board of directors has been very upset that he did that,” Dustin said Wednesday. “When things are down, obviously you invest money and it goes down. Some people get their feelings hurt, I guess. The last five years I’ve taken this company 10 times than what it was. It does look bad, but it’s just gotta shake itself out.”
Dustin said anyone can sue anyone, but that in this case, he didn’t do anything wrong.
Referencing his DUI he picked up in September, Dustin said, “The stresses of what’s happened is hard to take, but I’m human.” He said those stresses in his personal life are removed from his ability to run Travel Lite.
“We’re going slow right now, hiring people a little bit each day, even one today, actually,” he said. “We’re getting it going. We’ll have more of a hard launch in the next two to three weeks.”
Dustin said the company has been selling down units and cleaning up their inventory by reevaluating and organizing.
“I’m trying to grow a company for the community,” Dustin said. “I had a personal goal to the be number one employer in the area, and I still believe I can.”
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