Avon businessman who scammed victims out of nearly $3 million pleads guilty, restitution ordered

An Avon man accused of using his company, Cleveland Custom Homes, to scam customers and investors out of nearly $3 million between 2021 and 2023 has pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges. Jeffrey Crawford, 51, of St. Maron Boulevard, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to six felony charges including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, aggravated theft, securing records by deception, tampering with records, money laundering and passing bad checks. Judge Carl Mazzone scheduled sentencing for March 23, according to court records. Twenty-three additional criminal charges were dismissed, records said. Crawford, who is free on bond awaiting sentencing, will be required to pay restitution to his victims, as determined by prosecutors. Defense attorney Jim Burge said Wednesday that he and his client are working to see that restitution gets paid. He said his sentencing arguments are due to the court by March 18. The U.S. Secret Service Money Laundering Task Force and Amherst and Westlake police departments investigated after Crawford, who owned Cleveland Custom Homes on Detroit Road in Avon, was accused of scamming six victims out of nearly $3 million starting in 2021. Crawford agreed to build three homes in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties for $1.3 million, $650,000 and $600,000 each. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley's office called Crawford a "con artist." Required to provide documents saying work was completed so that banks could release money to him, Crawford forged the documents and said work was done and contractors paid when neither was true. Crawford instead used the loan money for other projects or personal expenses, prosecutors said. He also got victims in Lorain, Cuyahoga and Trumbull counties to invest a total of $430,000 in his business. He promised to pay it back with a profit, but he didn't and some of checks he gave to his investors bounced. The Better Business Bureau reported "a sudden influx" of consumer complaints about Cleveland Custom Homes in late 2023. Cleveland Custom Homes also didn't pay subcontractors or respond to consumer complaints, the BBB said. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office sued Cleveland Custom Homes in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in 2024 alleging the company failed to do promised work or did subpar work that cost customers more than $1 million. The next hearing in that case will be held March 24 in Judge Donna Freeman's court. Crawford filed for bankruptcy in federal court in 2024, putting several civil lawsuits against him in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties on hold. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.