LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – In a near-empty Jefferson County courtroom, a judge ordered the owners of Cardinal Fencing & Security to pay up.
Itria Ventures was granted a default judgment worth more than $70,000. The finance company sued Cardinal Fencing & Security for breaching their Receivables Sale Agreement.
Leah Mull for Dove Hill Enterprises, another LLC the company was operating under, didn’t show up. Itria’s attorney, Trevor Earl, did.
“[The owner] borrowed money based on the business that he was either currently owed from his customers or would owe in the future,” Earl, with Fultz Maddox Dickens PLC, said. “Lots of businesses do that to kind of keep their cash flow going.”
Not showing up is a story that’s been consistent over time with the company’s owner, Peter Gilbert.
Kent Gootee paid nearly $2,500 to Cardinal Fencing & Security in May 2025. After two months of crews not showing up to do the work, he wanted his money back.
“I never got another response from him or a call back from that point on,” he said. “So then I followed up the small claims court for it.”
Court records show Gilbert did not show at an Oct. 30, 2025 hearing. The same happened on Jan. 14, 2026.
Gootee, too, received the default judgment.
“You knew that at some point the bubble’s going to burst because, you know, you just felt bad because you fell for his deception,” he said.
As of Tuesday, Gootee has still not received the refund or legal fees he is owed.
WAVE went by the office on Illinois Street, and no one answered the locked door. Gilbert did promise to make changes last summer.
“I’m trying, and I’m, you know, we will do better,” Gilbert said on Aug. 7, 2025.
Kent hopes that really is the case, so nobody else is left leaping fence or going through hoops to get their money.
“You might be in a bad straight yourself, but you’re really hurting a lot of people, taking their hard-earned money and not giving it back,” Gootee said. “You’re hurting a lot of people.”
WAVE did reach out to Gilbert with questions regarding the business and Tuesday’s hearing.
He said he was unavailable today, but that Mull was unable to make the court hearing because she was sick.
Standing with the state
Kentucky business records show the entity “Cardinal Fencing & Security” as inactive.
Another LLC tied to Gilbert, Cardinal Fence Wholesale LLC, is listed as inactive and in bad standing.
Dove Hill Enterprises LLC is active and in good standing. Its last Annual Report was filed with the Commonwealth on July 3, 2025.
Copyright 2026 WAVE. All rights reserved.
Click Here For The Original Source
