Where to report, and where not to bother.
Most sites like this list every agency they can find. That wastes your time. Below, each state says plainly whether there is a verifiedlicence or lawsuit connecting this operator to it — including the states where we checked and found nothing.
If you only do one thing
If your job was in Missouri, file the DNR well driller investigation request. It is the only channel attached to a live credential the state can actually suspend, it carries civil penalties of up to $500 per day under § 256.637 RSMo, and it routes to the county prosecutor. If your job was in Kansas, the equivalent is KDHE. Everything else is secondary.
Missouri
LICENSED HEREHome state for all three businesses, and where every judgment on this site was entered — including the Clay County judgment against the excavation LLC. A complaint carries the most weight here. Note that DNR well driller permit 002231 is held by the WELL DRILLING sole proprietorship, a separate business; if your job was excavation or well plugging work contracted through the LLC, the Attorney General route below fits better than the DNR one.
Missouri DNR — Well Installation Section
The single highest-leverage filing. DNR licenses well drillers under Chapter 256 RSMo and is the only body that can act against permit 002231. Under § 256.637.5, a complaint lets DNR bring a civil action through the county prosecutor and seek civil penalties of up to $500 per day. Ask specifically whether the required well plugging or well certification forms were ever filed for your job — under § 256.614 they are due within 60 days, and it is a checkable paper trail.
apps5.mo.gov/wims2/menu/contractorInvestSubmit.action
573-368-2165 · toll free 800-361-4827 · welldrillers@dnr.mo.gov
Missouri Geological Survey, P.O. Box 250, Rolla, MO 65402
Missouri Attorney General — Consumer Protection Division
Enforces the Merchandising Practices Act, Chapter 407 RSMo. Can seek injunctions, restitution and civil penalties, and has concurrent criminal jurisdiction under § 407.020.4. File your own separate complaint — the office indexes by business, and independent complaints from unrelated people are what turn a file into an investigation. Note: your complaint is a public record and a copy goes to the business.
app.ago.mo.gov/app/consumercomplaint
1-800-392-8222 · Kansas City office 816-889-5000
Consumer Protection Division, P.O. Box 899, Jefferson City, MO 65102
Cass County Prosecuting Attorney
Criminal charges in Missouri are filed by the county prosecutor. Report to the Cass County Sheriff first (816-380-8320), then deliver a written packet. Be realistic: § 570.010(8) RSMo says deceit as to intent to perform cannot be inferred from non-performance alone, so a single non-performance is unlikely to be charged. Multiple victims is what changes that, and § 570.030.11 allows losses across victims to be aggregated.
www.casscounty.com/2191/Prosecuting-Attorney
816-380-8250
2501 W. Mechanic St., Harrisonville, MO 64701
Kansas
LICENSED HEREKDHE water well contractor licence 595 is active and is held by Jesse Yoakum Well Drilling — the sole proprietorship, not the excavation LLC. A separate licence, 1008, is held by Yoakum Well Drilling, LLC, a third business. If your job was in Kansas, check which licence number appears on your paperwork before you file, because KDHE can only act against the licence that actually did the work.
KDHE — Water Well Program
Licenses water well contractors in Kansas and can act against licence 595. Kansas also maintains a public well completion register, so the recorded depth, date and yield of your well can be checked against what you were told.
www.kdhe.ks.gov/1046/Water-Well-Program
785-296-3565
1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 420, Topeka, KS 66612
Kansas Attorney General — Consumer Protection
Handles deceptive-practice complaints under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.
ag.ks.gov/complaint-center
1-800-432-2310
Kansas Geological Survey — WWC5 well register
Look up any well filed under licence 595. Search by owner name or county. These are the driller's own filings to the state, which makes them unusually good evidence.
Texas
LITIGATION HEREThree Texas court matters name JS Yoakum Excavation and Construction, LLC or an individual named Yoakum, including two default judgments and one case docketed under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Important: research found NO Texas water well driller licence for any Yoakum. The Texas work appears to have been oilfield and excavation work, not well drilling.
Texas Attorney General — Consumer Protection
Enforces the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, the Texas counterpart to Missouri's MMPA. This is the right destination for a Texas consumer complaint.
www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/file-consumer-complaint
1-800-621-0508
Texas Dept. of Licensing and Regulation
TDLR licenses water well drillers and pump installers in Texas. Research found no Yoakum on that roster. Listed here only so you can verify that for yourself before hiring anyone for well work in Texas.
www.tdlr.texas.gov/complaints
1-800-803-9202
Nevada
LITIGATION HEREOne open Clark County collection case against the LLC and Jesse Yoakum, filed October 2022. No Nevada licensing connection was found.
Nevada Attorney General — Bureau of Consumer Protection
Handles Nevada deceptive trade practice complaints.
ag.nv.gov/Complaints/File_Complaint
1-888-434-9989
Oklahoma
NO VERIFIED CONNECTIONNo Oklahoma court case, licence or business registration has been verified. Oklahoma's court portal blocks automated searching, so this is an open question rather than a confirmed negative. Kansas records do show four wells plugged in 2017 for the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma — but those wells are in Kansas.
Oklahoma Attorney General — Consumer Protection Unit
For Oklahoma consumer complaints.
www.oag.ok.gov/consumer-protection-unit
405-521-2029
Oklahoma Water Resources Board
Licenses well drillers and pump installers in Oklahoma. Verify any driller here before hiring.
www.owrb.ok.gov
405-530-8800
North Dakota
NO VERIFIED CONNECTIONVerified negative. A search of the North Dakota water well contractor registry, run with a control query to confirm the search worked, returned no Yoakum. No North Dakota licence was found.
North Dakota Attorney General — Consumer Protection
For North Dakota consumer complaints generally.
attorneygeneral.nd.gov/consumer-resources
1-800-472-2600
South Dakota
NO VERIFIED CONNECTIONVerified negative. The complete South Dakota licensed well driller registry — 1,016 firms — contains no Yoakum and no Missouri-based firm at all.
South Dakota Consumer Protection
For South Dakota consumer complaints generally.
consumer.sd.gov
1-800-300-1986
Federal — any state
Neither of these will investigate your individual case. Both are worth filing anyway, for one specific reason: they put your case in a database that state investigators search.
FTC — ReportFraud.ftc.gov
The FTC will not act on an individual case, and it is still worth fifteen minutes. Complaints feed the Consumer Sentinel Network, a database that state attorneys general and law enforcement query directly. It is the cheapest way for an investigator in another state to discover that you exist.
reportfraud.ftc.gov
1-877-382-4357
FBI IC3
For matters with an electronic payment or online solicitation element. IC3 does not investigate and you will not hear back — it aggregates and refers. File it for the same reason as the FTC.
Three things to know before you file anything
1. Your complaint is usually a public record, and in Missouri a copy of an Attorney General complaint is sent to the business it names. Name the exact legal entity from your own paperwork — more than one business operates under this surname, and a complaint aimed at the wrong one helps nobody. File deliberately, and expect it to be read by the business you name.
2. File separately, not together. These offices index complaints by business name. Six independent complaints from six unrelated people is what moves a file from mediation to investigation. One joint letter from a coordinated group reads as a single aggrieved party.
3. Name the business that is on your own paperwork, and use the same string every time so that your complaints cross-reference each other. For most people reading this that will be JS Yoakum Excavation and Construction, LLC, Cleveland, Missouri— check the proposal, the invoice and the cheque, not the truck or the website. Inconsistent naming is the most common reason related complaints never get connected.
Do not name a business you did not deal with.Three separate businesses operate under this surname and they are owned by different people. Adding a second entity to your complaint because the names look similar does not strengthen it — it makes the complaint less accurate, and it drags in a party who may have had nothing to do with your job. If you genuinely are not sure which one you hired, say exactly that and attach your paperwork; the investigator can tell.