Craig Seabrooks posted this image of his unfinished home in Hilliard on his GoFundMe page. The contractor on the home, Nassau County builder Michael Chad Reed, was arrested on 12 charges related to construction fraud, according to his arrest warrant. | GoFundMe
Published on September 6, 2024 at 3:14 pm
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A contractor from Hilliard has been arrested on a 12-count indictment that alleges he failed to complete homes that customers paid for.
Michael Chad Reed, 39, owner of The Reed Group Elite Homes, was arrested Thursday. He is charged with organized fraud, five counts of misapplication of construction funds and six alleging grand theft, an affidavit said.
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The affidavit states that Reed had contracts with several customers to build homes in Nassau County between 2021 and 2023. The contracts demanded a 15% deposit before construction. Each specified the projects would be done within one year.
For five of those customers, that is as far as it got.
After the victims paid their deposits, construction either began and stopped, or construction never began, the affidavit states.
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Customer Craig Seabrooks says the failure to complete his home in Hilliard forced him to start a GoFundMe account to help with legal fees and other costs. That includes a threat of foreclosure from his bank “because they want ALL of their money,” the GoFundMe states.
Seabooks in not named in the affidavit. In his GoFundMe plea, he says, “We ended up with a ‘home’ that is 70% done, at best. Damage everywhere! We are almost $400,000 out of money.”
The affidavit states that Reed hired several subcontractors to complete different projects but did not pay them. The affidavit said the failure resulted in liens filed by subcontractors against customers.
“Reed received hundreds of thousands of dollars to build multiple homes in their entirety, but did not do so for the victims listed herein,” the affidavit said. “There isn’t any proof the funds provided to Reed were used entirely for the construction of the homes, as they were left unfinished.”
The affidavit specifically lists payments including $197,063 for one home in Callahan and $500,000 for one to be built in Fernandina Beach. It also lists thousands of dollars in liens that subcontractors filed against the victims.
The company filed for bankruptcy in late February. The case is pending.
