Friday, October 27, 2006
Wichita Business Journal - by Ken Vandruff

Money problems, alleged fraud close doors to computer store

Shayne Yonce guided the growth of his business dream from a mall kiosk to a stand-alone store. Now he's shutting it down.

Financial problems and claims of employee fraud led to his decision to close Christian Dimension Computer Solutions Inc. and its associated companies, Yonce says. The business was located at 942 S. West St. He's helping the building's owner find a new tenant.

Yonce closed two Computer Depot Inc. stores in the Kansas City area four months ago. Christian Dimension acquired Computer Depot in September 2005.

There also is pending legal action. Emprise Bank filed a lawsuit in July seeking $151,421 plus interest and late charges claiming Yonce and the companies defaulted on a loan.

"Certainly, it's very disappointing to see this have to happen, but we made some choices in some staffing and some things came up that ended up being a problem," Yonce said in a voice-mail response to an interview request. "There are things that we're working on to deal with the employee."

Wichita police are investigating an embezzlement complaint that was filed by Christian Dimension in September, says Lt. Hassan Ramzah, who heads up the financial crimes section. He declined to provide details of the complaint.

Late Payments

Yonce and his wife, Amy, took out a $162,000 loan from Emprise in November 2005. According to court documents, Christian Dimension did not make loan payments in May and June 2006, triggering the lawsuit.

The case is set for a civil pre-trial conference in February 2007.

Officials at Emprise were not available to comment on the litigation.

About the time the lawsuit was filed, Yonce closed the Computer Depot stores in Overland Park and Lees Summit, Mo. Helen Griffin and her husband Dale, who sold the Computer Depot stores to Yonce, opened a new computer company, Direct PC Sales Corp., in the Overland Park location two weeks later.

Dale Griffin, Direct PC Sales' vice president, says he was told that Yonce ran out of resources. Griffin is not planning to file any legal action against Yonce.

The lease on Christian Dimension's Wichita store continues until April. Yonce is working with Paul Moore, the building's owner, to find a new tenant. Moore says he's trying to help a friend.

"It's not a bad company," Moore says. "They have a lot of potential if they can just arrange to get things put together."
Fast Growth

Yonce founded Christian Dimension with family seed money in 1999. The first location was a kiosk in Towne West Square during the winter holidays. It transformed from a company that only sold Christian software to one that provided service on all major personal computer brands and sold and manufactured its own brand of PCs.

He also branched out into digital home entertainment systems, acquired Computer Depot for its Kansas City locations, sold used computers and most recently opened a coffee shop catering to computer users.

Christian Dimension was the overall winner in the 2004 Metro Awards based on 2003 sales of $1.5 million and three-year growth of 290 percent. It was also a 2005 Metro Award winner.

Christian Dimension's closing could boost the sales of Ribbit Computers LLC, says Ribbit owner Alex Harb. The two companies targeted similar customers in west Wichita after Ribbit opened a store seven blocks away at 240 S. West St. last June.

"He's a nice guy and doesn't deserve this," Harb says. "I wish him good luck."