“Michigan’s Worst Cop” Mark Aldrich Owns America’s Worst Franchise: JDog

Dubbed “Michigan’s Worst Cop” by one news outlet, “troubled” former cop Mark Aldrich appears to be a celebrated franchisee of America’s most disreputable franchise seller:  Jerry Flanagan’s JDog Brands.

(UnhappyFranchisee.com)  Owner of JDog Junk Hauling & Carpet Cleaning franchises in Plymouth and Ann Arbor, Michigan, former MP and police officer Mark Aldrich is the subject of a scathing investigation by Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ.

Investigative reporter Ross Jones states:

Throughout his career, officer Mark Aldrich would be accused of dishonesty, road rage, engaging in sex acts with a woman he’d arrested and destroying evidence. He was hired by police departments in Belleville, Huron Township, Carleton and, most recently, Lake Orion.

From interviews & his social media persona, Mark Aldrich appears to be a decent, professional and likeable family man who is dedicated to law enforcement and assisting military veterans.

As a policeman, he drove vehicles displaying the words “To Serve & Protect.”

As a franchise owner, his military-themed Jdog Junk Removal ads, signage and apparel overtly communicate his supposed commitment to “Respect. Integrity. Trust.”

And yet, if Ross Jones’ allegations are accurate, Mark Aldrich seems like the last guy you want to invite into your home to clean your carpets or haul away your junk, or to patrol your neighborhood with a badge and loaded gun.

The allegations against police officer Mark Aldrich include:

• Selling a car donated for a needy family & pocketing the cash,
• Flashing a service weapon & unleashing a “rash of expletives” on a woman and her daughter over a Kroger parking space dispute,
• Receiving lap dances and oral sex from an exotic dancer he’d recently charged with marijuana possession & OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) while the charges were still pending,
• Harassing the woman and sending “creepy” texts, then lying about it to police,
• Destroying evidence, ie bodycam video footage believed to validate citizen complaints against him.

Mark Aldrich Owns & Operates JDog Junk Hauling Plymouth, MI & JDog Carpet Cleaning, Ann Arbor, MI

After rocky employment & untimely, controversial departures from at least three Michigan police departments, Mark Aldrich seemingly decided to cloak his worsening reputation in the pseudo-patriotic JDog brand, a deceptively marketed franchise scheme that misleads both the public & the veterans it entraps in its high-failure rate business ventures.

The most recent JDog franchise disclosure documents (FDDs) list Mark Aldrich as the franchise owner of JDog Junk Hauling in Plymouth, MI and JDog Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care in Ann Arbor, MI.

Aldrich’s LinkedIn profile states he’s been Owner/CEO JDog Junk Removal & Hauling Plymouth from April 2022 to Present (2 yrs 1 mo) and JDog Carpet Cleaning & Floor Care Ann Arbor from February 2023 to present (1 yr 3 mos).

According to Michigan Department of Licensing & Public affairs records, Mark Aldrich has registered multiple for-profit limited liability companies (LLCs), including:

• 04/08/2022  LAKE HOUSE VACAYS LLC  (Members MARK TIMOTHY ALDRICH JR, CORRINE NICOLE ALDRICH)
• 31 ALPHA LLC Organized  04/25/2022 (Assumed Name:  JDOG JUNK REMOVAL AND HAULING PLYMOUTH
  6/6/2022)
• 10/31/2022  FIRST RESPONSE DISPATCH LLC  (Assumed name:  JDog Junk Removal & Demolition)  Organizers:  Mark Timothy Aldrich, Jr., Brandon Ouellette, Jeff Hall
• 10/31/2022  SHEEPDOG LLC Organized  10/31/2022  (Purpose:  carpet cleaning)

It appears that Toledo JDog franchisees Brandon Ouellette & Jeff Hall may be partners with Aldrich in at least one franchise.

CEO Jerry Flanagan posted on Facebook how proud he was to have Mark Aldrich & his team represent JDog in Plymouth & Ann Arbor, Michigan territories.

In several ways, Jerry Flanagan and Mark Aldrich seem to be kindred spirits.

Neither are strangers to controversy & allegations of lying & bullying.

Both appear to be very comfortable misrepresenting the predatory JDog franchise scheme as a selfless crusade dedicated to empowering military veterans.

Like JDog CEO Jerry Flanagan, Mark Aldrich Misrepresents the JDog Business Model

To be clear, the vast majority of JDog franchisees are, themselves, victims.

They are Veterans and military family members who believed the well-publicized falsehood that JDog Franchises, LLC and founder Jerry Flanagan were sincere about empowering Veterans through successful business ownership.

If JDog franchisees could be faulted, it would be for their silence… for not speaking out… for not warning other veterans before they and their families were victimized.

However, franchisees like Mark Aldrich are not only silent – they appear to be complicit in spreading the corporate misinformation that misleads both the public and their fellow Veterans.

For example, in an interview with Michigan Business Beat, JDog franchisee Mark Aldrich makes unsubstantiated claims that some insiders dispute while others say are false, such as:

• “JDog Junk Removal and Hauling… we have the SOLE GOAL of getting the veteran unemployment rate under 1%.”
• “60% to 80% of every item that we haul away from our jobs we reuse or recycle.”
• “so it’s not just our company that’s going out and do that it’s all the franchises.  We’re donating 60% to 80% back to those that are less fortunate“
• “right now we’re averaging only 5% of all items that we haul away ending up in a landfill.  So we’ve taken a real sustainable footprint and approach to everything that we do.”
  – “when you call into our number.  The first voice that you will hear is two of our dispatchers that are through the Ann Arbor VA CWT program. And that’s the compensated work transition program.  They are veterans that might have physical or mental disabilities, that we have found a way to put them to work where they have purpose.”

We have reached out to Mark Aldrich, Jerry Flanagan & JDog Franchises, LLC for documentation of these claims.

The basic business model of JDog Junk Removal involves charging customers a fee to pick up household waste and dispose of it at a municipal waste facility (eventually a landfill).  The JDog Operations manual indicates that metal and paper recycling and resale of useable goods and materials are regarded as franchisee “revenue centers,” and not part of any national initiative to help the “less fortunate.”

Our ongoing investigation of the predatory JDog franchise sales scheme indicates that its major recycling accomplishment is reclaiming failed franchise territories & reselling them to new trusting Veterans & families for new fees.

Since the launch of the JDog franchise program, more than 300 Veteran-owned franchises have been terminated and resold with some territories having failed multiple times under multiple franchise owners.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?  SHARE A COMMENT BELOW.

Documentation & More Information:

Franchise Warning: JDog Junk Hauling for Veterans (Index)

JDOG Franchise Dream Ends in Veteran Suicide, Double Homicide

What Every Veteran Should Know About the JDog Franchise

JDog Franchise News & Discussion Newsletter Sign-Up

PETITION to Save Veteran-Owned Small Businesses NOW

List of JDog Franchisees With Closed or Failed Franchises – UPDATED

OPEN INVITATION:  Unhappy Franchisee extends an open invitation to all those discussed to provide corrections, explanations, clarifications and/or rebuttals.  We will correct factual errors & alternative views fairly.  Anonymous or signed comments are welcome below or can be emailed in confidence to UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail[dot]com. 

Sean Kelly is an independent investigative journalist with 35 years of franchise industry experience. 

Since founding UnhappyFranchisee.Com in 2006, his reporting has exposed & shut down several predatory franchise & investment schemes. 

Sean Kelly is a franchise watchdog who prompted and aided the FBI investigation that shut down the 165-victim multi-million-dollar NY Bagel franchise scam and landed perpetrators Dennis Mason & Joseph Smith in federal prison. 

Sean was featured in the ABC Four Corners expose of 7-Eleven wage theft in Australia and has served as an advisor to Dateline NBC.  He has withstood bullying, intimidation & frivolous lawsuits as high as $35M and never lost.  His crack editorial staff and fact checkers include Chick, Gem, Red, Pru & previously Joanie the Rescue Chicken [RIP].

Contact the author at UnhappyFranchisee[at]Gmail[dot]com

Tags:  JDog, JDog franchise, JDog Junk Hauling, JDog Carpet Cleaning, JDog Plymouth, JDog Ann Arbor, Mark Aldrich, Jr., Brandon Ouellette, Jeff Hall, Corrine Aldrich, Jerry Flanagan, Tracy Flanagan