Lacey Contractor Who Gambled Client's Money Sentenced: Prosecutor

LACEY, NJ — A Lacey home contractor who abandoned a client's remodeling job after damaging the home and using the down payment for his own benefit, including gambling more than $40,000 away in Atlantic City, has been sentenced to state prison.

Jeffrey Crawford, 50, was sentenced to three years in New Jersey State Prison and will have to pay restitution to the victim of about $70,000, Ocean County 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.