Man That Promised 500 Century Jobs Sentenced To Prison For Fraud

September 13, 2013

The man behind a promise of up to 500 jobs announced in 2010 that never materialized in Century — will spend the next few years in prison on fraud charges brought against him by Alabama  authorities.

James Leonard Craft, age 72 of Century, pleaded guilty in Cullman County, Ala.,  to engaging in a scheme or artifice to defraud in connection with the sale of securities. He was sentenced to a 10-year sentence, split to serve three years, the first 90 days in jail, to be released with the opportunity to pay $185,000 in restitution to his victims. If Craft fails to pay the restitution as ordered, he will serve the remainder of his sentence in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.

An investigation by the Alabama Securities Commission found that Craft solicited funds from investors to purportedly purchase wood products from South America, which were to be resold to U.S. distributors for the making of railroad cross ties and other products at a plant to be located in the former Alger Sullivan Lumber Company building in Century.

Craft was the manager of Century Lumber and Land, a company that held a ribbon cutting back in October 2010 for a group of new businesses that planned to locate in Century’s vacant Alger Sullivan Lumber Company property and bring up to 500 jobs to the struggling town. According to Workforce Escarosa, over 3,000 people applied for those jobs.

Craft stood holding the arm of Century Mayor Freddie McCall in October 2010 as the mayor cut a symbolic ribbon for Century Lumber and Land. Community members, Century town council members, county commissioners, and other county government representatives and business officials stood behind a Century Area Chamber of Commerce sign as the yellow ribbon fell.

But there was a tidbit very few of them knew — Craft nor the company never had any legal claim the to property where he was holding the ribbon cutting.

“It was never sold; it never even had a binder,”  EXIT Realty NFI-Commerical agent Gary Watson said after the ribbon cutting on behalf of the property owners.

In 2010, the Alabama Securities Commission issued a cease and desist order on Craft and his Century Lumber and Land after an attempt was made to solicit money from Alabama investors in at least three Alabama counties. The ASC said neither Craft nor his business was registered to sell securities in Alabama as required by law.

In testimony in Cullman County (Ala.) Circuit Court, Craft readily admitted to Judge Gregory Nicholas that he intended on using the money for personal reasons while simultaneously making a fraudulent pitch that the investors’ funds were to be used to purchase wood products.

In September 2011, Craft was arrested by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office and extradited to Etowah County, Ala., to face charges. Craft’s arrest stemmed from a Etowah County Grand jury indictment for alleged illegal securities activities associated with his company. Indictments against Craft were also returned in Cullman and Shelby counties. All of the charges were later combined and tried in Cullman County Circuit Court.

“Our mission at the Alabama Securities Commission is to protect Alabama citizens from the deceitful and devious activities of people like Mr. Craft who seem to have an unlimited ability to conjure up ways to steal money from vulnerable and trusting people. The felony conviction and the court’s strong response should send a loud and clear message to financia predators to stay out of the State of Alabama.” ASC Director Joseph Borg said.

Pictured top: Convicted felon James Leonard Craft (light blue shirt, front left) holds the arm of Century Mayor Freddie McCall as he cuts the ribbon for Century Lumber and Land in October 2010. Pictured below: A group hoping to apply for a job gathered during the ribbon cutting. Pictured inset: The former Alger Sullivan Lumber Company building in Century was the planned home for Craft’s company. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/lumberland10.jpg

Comments

5 Responses to “Man That Promised 500 Century Jobs Sentenced To Prison For Fraud”

  1. David Huie Green on September 14th, 2013 12:26 am

    CONSIDERING:
    “He was sentenced- – - a 10-year sentence, split to serve three years, the first 90 days in jail, to be released with the opportunity to pay $185,000 in restitution to his victims. If Craft fails to pay the restitution as ordered, he will serve the remainder of his sentence in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections.”

    Not sure this sentence will pass constitutional muster, not that it is a bad sentence, just that the Supremes have tended to oppose any sentence which was contingent on ability to pay money. It winds up punishing the poor worse than the rich and that is not equal treatment under the law.

    We shall see.

    David for exceptions in this case

  2. JR on September 13th, 2013 11:03 pm

    when I originally saw this in 2010 I said to my husband “yeah right this will never actually happen, wait and see, there are no jobs coming here, only leaving”, guess I was right not only did this not happen, there have been several other planned ventures that never happened, and everyday something else is shutting down or being moved out of here. Its sad really, we need to do a total sweep of our elected officials and start over. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that will ever happen either because we continue to elect the same crooked people over and over…its gotten to the point that no one even wants to run, and most of the people I know feel that their vote doesn’t really matter anyway no matter who they elect its going to be the same ol, same ol…..I always say “there is always hope” but even I am beginning to lose faith……

  3. Richard Accord on September 13th, 2013 10:37 am

    Hired. My thought exactly! It’s unlikely the Craft co had any type of Employment Practices Liability insurance. The temp agency is going to spin your wheels and “fill” 300 job openings while making a commission on each placement, I would start with them. A litigation attorney who has employment law and or employment / compliance background also review anything you signed with the tem agency. All the best

  4. "Hired" Employee on September 13th, 2013 9:06 am

    As one of the MANY that were “Hired” on through the temp agency (Keegan Staffing, after being interviewed by Craft and his HR Manager) and then strung along for over two month… can he be sued by his “employees” that were hired and given a start date (by Craft) that kept moving further and further away? I passed up two very good jobs trying to hold out for this “company” ($25/hr initially; 40hrs a week or more with full benifits paid for by the company), and suffered financially for doing so.

  5. Darko Sladovic on September 13th, 2013 8:34 am

    Has there ever been one of these “business men” who had promised a factory and jobs in Century that was NOT a scam artist? Didn’t the helocopter guy pack up his stuff and move to China? Then there was that go-cart or buggy factory that fell through. Enough is enough.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News