YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
A former Springfield architecture firm leader is reportedly facing accusations of sexual assault and a renewed law enforcement investigation, following allegations that surfaced in a 2024 lawsuit between Mercy and Pitt Development Group LLC. The lawsuit references alleged misconduct by architect Steve Warlick as part of a broader dispute over clinic construction contracts.
Warlick, who is known in Springfield for his executive work at the architecture firm once known as Bates & Associates Inc., is now being investigated by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI for sexual assault allegations, according to an Aug. 1 investigative report by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Allegations also are detailed in an Aug. 1 report by KMOV in St. Louis, and both news outlets published interviews with the alleged victim in the case.
Warlick, through his attorney, denied all wrongdoings alleged in the report.
The Post-Dispatch cited an investigative file it obtained that reportedly points to a 24-year-old woman accusing Warlick of drugging and raping her in February 2016. St. Louis police reopened the investigation last year, according to the Aug. 1 report by the Post-Dispatch, which previously reported in June that an FBI drug possession investigation involving a man named Albert James ties into a larger criminal investigation involving Warlick. The woman, who is unnamed in the media reports, reportedly first met Warlick at a Hooter’s restaurant in Springfield, and claims of sexual assault are alleged to have taken place in St. Louis.
Springfield Business Journal has sought confirmation from the FBI and the St. Louis and Springfield police departments. Representatives for the St. Louis police could not be reached for comment by publication time.
Crystal Higdon, an SPD police services administrator, said in an email that a report concerning the matter is linked to an active investigation and so remains closed under Missouri law. Rob Gunderson, a training coordinator for the FBI field office in Kansas City, said he’s unable to confirm or deny whether an investigation is in progress.
Joseph Passanise, managing partner for Wampler & Passanise Law Office PC, said he has been retained as counsel by Warlick and provided a statement on his behalf.
“Mr. Warlick adamantly denies the allegations included in the Post-Dispatch article,” Passanise said in the statement. “These allegations were investigated years ago with no action deemed necessary. We look forward to this situation being resolved so that Mr. Warlick can move forward without being under a cloud of false accusations.”
Warlick has not been charged with a crime related to the alleged 2016 sexual assault, according to online court records.
2024 lawsuit
Allegations of sexual impropriety involving Warlick were first detailed in a lawsuit filed last year by Pitt Development Group against Mercy.
In the ongoing lawsuit, Pitt Development Group alleges it lost out on business after Mercy retaliated against the company for blowing the whistle on Donn Sorensen, a former Mercy executive. The suit alleges Sorenson, former regional president of Mercy, and John Farnen, former Mercy vice president of planning, design and construction, told Pitt Development Group to pay Warlick $65,000 as “social capital” – despite not needing his services.
“PDG became concerned about Sorensen and Farnen’s reasons for wanting Warlick paid despite him doing no work,” the lawsuit reads. “PDG then discovered a disturbing connection between Sorensen and Warlick that related to business dealings, personal dealings and the sexual exploitation of women.
“After PDG became a whistleblower and informed Mercy about Mercy employee(s) potential bribery, extortion and sexual assault of women, including those below the age of 18, involving Mercy employee(s), Mercy retaliated against PDG.”
Mercy provided a statement to SBJ back in March 2024: “While Mercy does not comment on pending litigation, we will always vigorously defend and safeguard Mercy’s excellent reputation and uphold our long-standing commitment to sound business practices,” the statement reads. “We will rely on the court system to resolve this litigation and reach an outcome that is just.”
Sorensen and Farnen both exited Mercy after Pitt Development Group reported the allegations to the health system, according to past reporting.
The most recent court filing in the Pitt Development Group and Mercy lawsuit is an April 9 certificate of service showing PDG filed objections and responses to interrogatories and requests for production from Mercy.
Business history
Years before the sexual assault allegations surfaced, Warlick had been a partner at Springfield-based Bates & Associates. He became president of the architecture firm following the 2011 death of owner Alan Bates. Warlick told SBJ that year that he had a succession plan in place with Bates in which he assumed his shares in the company.
Bates & Associates in 2018 merged with Forum Studio, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Clayco Inc., and by 2019, Warlick told SBJ he had sold his 50% stake in BatesForum to Clayco.
Clayco announced in June 2019 that its BatesForum and Lamar Johnson Collaborative subsidiaries had merged, with the latter company’s name surviving.
In 2019, Warlick told SBJ he had been living in St. Louis for six years. It’s unclear where Warlick now resides, but his social media profiles list Dallas, Texas, as his location.
Warlick’s LinkedIn profile indicates he went on to work in roles at Jacobs and CBRE, and most recently he listed a hybrid vice president role at Bentonville, Arkansas, architecture and engineering firm HFA.
HFA Director of Brand and Marketing Elizabeth Prenger provided a statement to SBJ in response to inquiries about Warlick’s employment status with the firm.
“HFA is aware of recent reports related to alleged misconduct by a current employee. This individual has been placed on leave while we monitor the situation and seek to understand the allegations related to their personal and professional history prior to joining HFA,” the statement reads. “We are committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, and we take this matter very seriously.”
A trio of brothers own Southway Storage LLC, which opened Oct. 7 and has 289 units to serve customers in Ozark, Nixa, Springfield and elsewhere in southwest Missouri.
I'm guessing bribery exists in many forms throughout modern business. If the purchasing agent asks you to "contribute" to his grandson's soccer team, and provide tee-shirts, is that bribery? If the buyer asks you to share your season tickets to the Chiefs, and you comply, does that constitute bribery? This stuff unfortunately happens all the time on a smaller scale, but it's all the same. Go back and look at the payoffs in 2015 to an Ozarks state legislator and his aide. Collectively, they took $10,000 in meals and tickets and trips. None of this is good. But sadly, we dismiss it as "a cost of doing business."