A Texas contractor has been arrested in connection with the theft of more than $3.5 million for failing to finish the work on a recreational vehicle park in Parker County, according to the sheriff’s office.

Parker County Sheriff Russ Authier said Zachary Dixon Parker, 43, started the job to develop Midway Meadows RV Park in March 2021., but he refused to complete it.

Sheriff’s investigators found that Parker used the victim’s funds to purchase numerous personal items including jewelry, art, food, animals and heavy equipment, according to a Parker County Sheriff’s Office news release on Monday. Investigators also believe Parker used the victim’s money on projects and debts for other clients he created prior to starting the victim’s project.

Parker was arrested Friday on two charges of theft over $300,000.

Authier said additional charges are pending the completion of the ongoing investigation.

Parker’s bond was set at $1.5 million and he remained in the Parker County Jail in Weatherford on Monday.

The victim reported that once Parker received the funds, the contractor ceased all communications and ignored demands to complete the project or return his money.

Investigators reviewed numerous documents, proposals, invoices, statements, banking records and additional evidence in the case, finding Parker performed certain portions of the contract but ceased all work after collecting more than $3.5 million.

The victim was forced to pay another contractor to complete the project.

Sheriff’s investigators also discovered Parker did not pay the supplier for the materials for the project, who placed a lien on the victim’s development. Authorities determined the invoice and draw were created under deception, because none of the funds went toward the materials Parker claimed to use for the construction job.

The victim reported that though the job had been paid for, no work has been performed past the initial clearing and excavation of the project.

Investigators reported certain projects of the bid were not noted in the invoices, but were promised to the victim in the initial contract, meaning the victim overpaid for the initial job by $210,920. Sheriff’s investigators further stated the total price of the materials delivered, and labor completed by Parker to be valued at about $450,050.

After no contact from Parker, the victim reached out to other companies to bid the completion of the project, which was estimated at $2,910,675.73.

Sheriff’s investigators obtained grand jury subpoenas for Parker’s financial records, discovering three bank accounts. One of the accounts belonging to Barbwire Oil & Gas LLC, connected directly to Parker, was the account where the victim’s funds were deposited. As of November, Parker’s balance in the account was zero. Investigators discovered the two additional bank accounts belonging to Parker had balances of $601.92 and $55.26.

A background check of Parker dating back five years revealed he was listed as either a manager, director, governing member or member of at least 16 different LLC companies in Texas. The majority of these companies are no longer in existence.

During this time, Parker had at least 13 civil judgments levied against him or the companies he represented. The judgments total more than $15 million.

In the 1920s, county seat Weatherford was producing more watermelons than anywhere else in the world

Heading into the second weekend of July, residents from all over Parker County brace themselves as their historic square transforms into a vibrant jubilee celebrating all things peach. The scented air—infused with the sweet aroma of perfectly ripened fruit—and masses of crowds signal the return of the Parker County Peach Festival.

It may surprise Texas peach lovers that Parker County—not Fredericksburg, where peach orchards proliferated before wineries took over—has been designated the official Peach Capital of Texas since 1991. This year marks the festival’s 38th year, and as an exaggerated microcosm of agriculture’s hold over the region, the annual event gives visitors a glimpse into the community’s affection for peaches.

Yearlong, however, locals live almost daily with the fruit, from marketing embellishments at small businesses to peach-filled menu items at restaurants. A great reminder of the fuzzy feelings about peaches can be found in the county seat of Weatherford: a peach mural adorns the exterior of a century-old train depot that’s now the home of the visitor’s center near the heart of town.

But neither visitors nor many locals may be aware that long before Parker County was the peach capital, it was the “World’s Best Watermelon Center.”

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In the early 1900s, people far and wide knew of Parker County watermelons. The story—at least as told by those whose families have been here long enough to know—is that banker G.A. Holland of Weatherford and Luther Lyle of Peaster shipped a variety of Parker County watermelons to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, where 12 claimed the top prize for their impressive weights. As a result, Parker County was put on the world map for agricultural success.

The achievement quickly sparked a craze countywide, pulling new growers out of the woodwork. On any given market day for the next 20 years, wagonfuls of melons would fill the same town square that’s home to the Peach Festival a century later.

“There were watermelons everywhere,” says Peggy Hutton, a Parker County native who recently retired from the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce and is married to Gary Hutton of Hutton Peach Farm, the primary grower of peaches in Parker County. “You could look over into the pastures while driving down the road and see them because they were 100-plus pounds,” she says.

Similar to how today’s residents celebrate the peach, the entire community was once adorned with watermelon memorabilia—from colorful displays at roadside stands to the drumhead of the high school band (even though the mascot was the kangaroo) to a county postcard that proudly proclaimed itself as the “World’s Greatest Watermelon Center.” In 1928, a giant watermelon statue even represented Parker County in the West Texas Chamber of Commerce parade. Afterwards, the colossal tin melon sat atop a wooden landing on the courthouse lawn for over a decade. “And no one knows where it went,” Gary says, chuckling.

According to the Texas State Historical Association, Weatherford had become the nation’s largest-volume shipping point for watermelons by 1925. And in the county’s northernmost town of Poolville, Charles Sanders recalls growing up during the craze. He spent hours in the watermelon fields with his grandfather as a young boy, he says. From the time he learned to drive a tractor at 5 years old to when he grew his last commercial crop in 1974, he was on the family’s multiple farms growing, picking, and seeding fresh watermelon. It was his grandfather, Emery Chandler, who started the business as a teenager in 1910, just after the county gained fame for the crop but right before its production heyday.

Now 84, Sanders is the last remaining of his family. Battling Parkinson’s disease, he becomes emotional as the memories come flooding back to him. When I ask about this time in his life, he has his wife of 65 years, Doris, recite his favorite memory while working on Chandler Melon Seed Farms.

“He would sit with his grandfather, almost every day, and they would eat the lunch they had packed under a tree in the shade and just talk about life,” she says.

Sanders also vividly remembers the toil and sweat that went into cultivating watermelon—from preparing soil and planting seed to constant watering and tending during their growth, and then doing it all over again. And the season always fell during the hottest months. “We could plant on Good Friday and have ripe watermelons by Fourth of July,” he says.

But it also had one major perk: free, all-you-can-eat watermelon. After a long day’s work, Sanders says his family would often head back to the fields, salt and knife in hand, ready to savor the fresh fruit right off the vine.

Watermelon continued to lead as Parker County’s favorite fruit through the 1960s, and it was still named among the world’s best by the New York Times as late as 1993. No one quite remembers when Parker County watermelon had finally become a thing of the past, and more importantly, an exact reason why.

“Well, the soil was different,” Doris suggests.

“It changed with transportation and the new ways they could make a living after World War II,” Gary recalls.

“People stopped farming in general,” Peggy Hutton says. “Younger generations didn’t want to do it anymore. And it fell by the wayside.”

Leaving behind a sense of mystery and nostalgia for the few who do remember, the voluptuous fruit had simply phased out.

Perhaps, a new generation will discover the delight of biting into a slice of freshly ripened, locally grown watermelon. And perhaps, in that discovery, the watermelon will find a home in Parker County once again, no longer a forgotten relic of the past but as a cherished part of the county’s heritage. Otherwise, with every passing Peach Festival—each more extravagant than the last—the community will take one step further from its watermelon days.

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 1% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Parker County

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Parker County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Parker County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

Two EF-1 tornadoes hit northern Parker County early Friday, with winds reaching 100 mph, the National Weather Service confirmed.

Storm survey teams have identified two EF-1 tornadoes in northern Parker County from this morning's storms. Max winds for both are 100 mph. These ratings are preliminary and could be updated if additional reports are received. #dfwwx #txwx pic.twitter.com/uWEo0d4Fvm

— NWS Fort Worth (@NWSFortWorth) March 24, 2023

One tornado developed southwest of Whitt, about 50 miles northwest of Fort Worth, at 4:52 a.m. and traveled about seven miles. The tornado ended near the junction of Parker, Jack and Wise Counties. Two people were injured in Whitt.

Another tornado began west of Poolville and traveled about five miles, where it ended near Texas 199 at the Wise and Parker County border. Several structures were damaged in Poolville. Three injuries were reported near Texas 199.

The tornadoes were part of a line of severe storms that moved through North Texas.

About 5 a.m. in Parker County, the fire department reported a mobile home overturned with two people trapped inside in the 4900 block of Lone Star Road, just west of Poolville, according to a NWS storm damage tracker.

Take a look at this, damage to this home in Poolville. The owner, Eric, tells me his family of four were inside and were bounding around the mobile home. The entire house was lifted off the property and thrown to the side. There are some injuries to him, his wife. @CBSNewsTexas pic.twitter.com/VC1pUmzyaq

— Nick Starling (@NickStarlingTV) March 24, 2023

#new - @_KennediWalker on scene in northern Parker County where a mobile home overturned during the storm. Emergency management confirms 2 people hurt. More coverage at 6:30am @CBSNewsTexas pic.twitter.com/VL2HCrPYpR

— Stewart McKenzie (@CBS11Stew) March 24, 2023

Another trailer was overturned with three people inside in the 2500 block of Bounty Road, southwest of Whitt.

Photos from the scene showed one mobile home was destroyed.

Sean Hughes, the emergency management coordinator for Parker County, said there were no serious injuries and first responders helped get everyone out.

There was a hole in the roof at Oak Tree Baptist Church after the church’s steeple was ripped off by the wind, WFAA-TV reported.

A more than 100-year-old tabernacle that was a community meeting place for Poolville collapsed, and the town plans to rebuild it, WFAA reported.

Large trees and power lines also were damaged.

Hughes also said there was sporadic damage from wind across Parker County but didn’t give specific details.

Danie Huffman, the spokesperson for the Parker County Sheriff’s Office, said they had gotten calls about wind damage and debris.

This story was originally published March 24, 2023, 4:53 PM.

The National Weather Service sent a team to survey Poolville’s damage early Friday.

PARKER COUNTY, Texas — The sounds of cleanup were already underway in Poolville early Friday.

A storm blew through, taking down trees, sheds and whatever stood in its path.

It knocked down the 120-year-old Poolville Tabernacle, a community gathering place.

The National Weather Service sent a team to survey Poolville’s damage and to determine if a tornado caused it. The NWS confirmed that two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in far northern Parker County.

Both tornadoes had estimated winds of 100 mph. The NWS reported that five people were injured in the tornadoes, two from the first one reported and three in the second one.

Heartbreaking damage in Poolville. A tabernacle more than 100 years old that served as a community meeting place since the time the town was founded collapsed on itself. Winds were strong enough to uproot a giant oak tree next to it.#wfaaweather @wfaaweather @wfaa pic.twitter.com/E5im0aX8SA

— Chris Sadeghi (@chrissadeghi) March 24, 2023

“It looked like a tornado ripped through here,” Weatherford firefighter Justin McCauley said. “Trees everywhere.”

He and a crew of Weatherford firefighters that had just gotten off work Friday morning helped clean up storm debris at a colleague’s home.

“We were all in a group message, a text message saying, ‘Hey bring chain saws, bring fuel, bring whatever you can,'” McCauley said. “It’s a family so we come out and we help each other just like any other family members would do.”

Fire Chief Jonathan Peacock came ready for work, too.

“I think that’s in everybody's nature to serve and they have that servants heart, that's what's happening right now,” he said.

At the Oak Tree Bible Church, the storm toppled the steeple.

“It withstood the 80-mile-an-hour winds that we had out here in the last storm. No problem, but this time, I think it was a little bit more than a straight wind,” Pastor Gary Garrett said. “It actually picked the cow manure up across the highway and it's in our yard now.”

He told WFAA it was a miracle the storm didn’t rip off the roof of the building.

“The Lord was looking out for us,” he said.

The pastor said when he arrived at the church about 6:15 a.m., “you couldn’t even pull through the parking for the trees down.”

“We just had a bunch of volunteers show up, as well as church members, and got the cleanup started so we’re ready for church service on Sunday,” he said.

By early Friday afternoon, a mountain of tree debris sat in the church’s parking lot awaiting removal.

Just a week ago, the church had replaced the steeple’s window. They’d put a blue light in that light up at nightfall.

“I don't think the Lord liked that steeple,” he said, chuckling.

Garrett did rescue the cross that stood atop the steeple.

“We'll put that in the front yard now as a memory,” he said.

The pastor vows that they will put up a new steeple along with that cross.