Lang
11/26/25
The second of two Iowa City business employees accused of tampering with the company’s records has reached a plea deal.
66-year-old Kevin Hochstedler, who runs Hochstedler Building and Development, entered a guilty plea to unspecified charges earlier this week. His alleged accomplice, 56-year-old Stephanie Bennett, was given a deferred judgment on a charge of Tampering With Records earlier this month as part of a plea deal of her own.
Both Hochstedler and Bennett had each been charged with 14 counts of Tampering With Records, with Hochstedler facing an added charge of 1st Degree Theft. The initial charges against Hochstedler carry a total maximum sentence of 38 years in prison.
The alleged victims entered into a construction contract with HBD to build a new residence in Solon that was completed in May. The victims paid HBD in full and were reportedly provided with forged lien waivers from over a dozen subcontractors indicating that HBD had paid them in full. The lien waivers were allegedly emailed to the victims by Bennett between October 30th, 2023 and March 18th, 2024, providing a signature from subcontractor representatives indicating a payment had been made by HBD to them despite Bennett knowing that was not the case.
In total, 14 different false documents were emailed by Bennett showing payments totaling over $116,000. The subcontractor signatures were allegedly determined to be forged.
Hochstedler reportedly failed to pay the subcontractors and did not make any attempts to return the funds to the victims.
A sentencing date for Hochstedler is not listed in online records.