San Angelo Homebuilder's Organized Crime Trial Canceled with Pre-Trial Diversion

SAN ANGELO, TX — Dudley Mason, accused of engaging in organized criminal activity involving his family homebuilding company in Tom Green County has accepted a pre-trial diversion offer from Assistant DA Stuart Holden.

The jury trial for accused ringleader Dudley Mason, 57, was set to commence on Jan. 16 and has been canceled.

Dudley Mason’s co-defendants, including his son, Dudley Ronald Mason, Jr., and son Daniel Aaron Mason along with his daughter-in-law Dusti Leigh Mason had their charges dismissed as part of the deal the Masons’ attorney, J.W. Johnson, cut with the DA office here.

The Masons, operators of the former Mason Trendsetter Homes, were indicted by a Tom Green County Grand Jury a year ago for defrauding former customers Michael and Cortney Duke, along with John III and Jessica Goodman “by deception.” The Masons submitted false invoices for work accomplished by a subcontractor on the Goodmans’ new home construction and false invoices from McCoy’s Building Supplies for the Dukes. The false invoices were to convince the bank holding the construction loan on their new home, First Financial Bank, to pay Mason Trendsetters for the reimbursement of the invoice amounts. This led to a three-count indictment for Dudley Mason and two-count indictments for the other members of the Mason family, who operated the homebuilder, for engaging in organized crime.

In the documents describing the pre-trial diversion agreement, the father Dudley Mason agreed to serve two years in a probation program with the county probation office and pay $67,000 in restitution to the victims named in the indictments. The Goodmans will receive $17,000 and the Dukes will receive $50,000 paid to them over the two years, according to court documents.

The payments work out to $3,105 per month. Mason will pay to his Community Supervision and Corrections Officer not later than the 10^th of every month. His first payment is due Jan. 10.

In return, all of Dudley Mason’s co-defendants, his sons and daughter-in-law, had their cases dismissed. Mason’s case will be dismissed if he successfully completes the two-year probationary period that will end Dec. 28, 2019.

Mason will also pay a $500 up-front “pre-trial diversion fee” to the District Attorney’s office. In addition, he will have to complete 60 hours of community service and have to comply other restrictions associated with probation, like refrain from alcohol or illegal drug use and live under a 10 p.m. curfew. He can  “commit no offense against the laws for this State or any other state or of the United States” during his probation.

At any time before the two-year probationary period is over, the DA can cancel the deal and remand Mason to face a trial and possible conviction.