Overview

• A Cuyahoga County grand jury on Sept. 25 indicted Jeffrey Crawford, 51, of Avon, owner of Cleveland Custom Homes, on 29 felony counts tied to two alleged schemes.
• Prosecutors say the first scheme began in July 2021 with forged documents submitted to banks for three home builds in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties to trigger loan disbursements.
• The second scheme allegedly started in February 2023, when three people invested $430,000 with promises of returns that were not paid, and some received checks that bounced.
• Identified losses total about $2.93 million across six victims, and charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, aggravated theft, forgery, tampering with records, passing bad checks, and money laundering.
• The U.S. Secret Service Money Laundering Task Force and Westlake and Amherst police investigated, prosecutors are seeking additional victims to come forward, and court records did not list an attorney for Crawford as he awaits arraignment.