Lacey Contractor Gambled Customer's Money, Damaged Home: Prosecutor

LACEY, NJ — A Lacey contractor pleaded guilty to theft after taking on a home remodeling job and abandoning it after six months, significantly damaging the home and using much of the down payment for his own benefit including gambling, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Jeffrey Crawford, 50, faces three years in New Jersey State Prison and about $70,000 restitution to the victim for his guilty plea to theft by failure to make required disposition of property, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

A complaint was first lodged against Crawford, operating as Hercules Renovations, LLC, by a Toms River resident in May 2021, Billhimer said.

An investigation revealed that Crawford was contracted by the victim to remodel the first floor of his home in Sept. 2020. The homeowner gave Crawford a down payment of $115,000 for the project, Billhimer said.

Crawford "sporadically performed some work on the property," Billhimer said, but abandoned the project entirely six months later in March 2021 - though not before causing "extensive damage" to the home.

Crawford also used most of the down payment for his own personal benefit, gambling more than $40,000 in Atlantic City and using about $30,000 on other personal items, Billhimer said. In total, he misappropriated about $70,000 of the homeowner's funds, Billhimer said.

He was taken into custody at Toms River Township Police Department Headquarters on Oct. 14, 2021 and released on a summons.

Crawford's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2024.