COLUMBIA COUNTY, Pa. — The state attorney general's office is now looking into the abrupt closure of a home builder in Columbia County.
Families were left with partially built homes, and one woman has no home at all.
Carol Morgan met Action 16 Investigates outside Danville on farmland that's been in her family for generations. The plot is where Carol and her husband Bob plan to live out their golden years.
"It's close to my relatives, and it's on my grandmother and grandfather's original property," Carol said.
Bob is a veteran who served and was injured in the Vietnam War and getting older almost definitely means he will eventually need a wheelchair.
"We are so looking forward to living here in our house that is going to be accessible for him later on in life when he needs it," she added.
The couple contracted with Vision Home Builders near Bloomsburg and worked with the company to draw up plans and pick out cabinets and countertops. But their family farm still looks like farmland.
"All we got for our money was a copy of the contract and some drawings," Carol said.
The Morgans are among 13 families deserted by Vision Home Builders when it closed late last month.
Some projects are partially built, but the Morgans have nothing. They gave Vision a $53,000 deposit in cash on April 13th.
"A week and a half later, he laid everybody off, and April 30th, they closed their door," Carol said.
When Vision Home Builders’ owner Jeffrey McCreary announced the company's closure in an email to clients, it even came as a surprise to Vision's subcontractors.
"Mr. McCreary had been communicating with our office and our sales representatives as early as two days prior to this happening, I think that's why we were just blindsided and shocked by this," said Bill Fegley of Advanced Concrete Systems of Middleburg.
Fegley has worked with McCreary since 2019 and was contracted to work on four more Vision homes this summer.
McCreary blamed the pandemic for the company's closure. Fegley told Action 16 the pandemic has plagued all contractors the past two years.
"It has been a struggle from a scheduling, materials, and a financial situation for everybody, I'm sure. I can't speak to his exact situation, but it has been challenging that I will grant him," he said.
Now, the state attorney general's office is looking into Vision Home Builders and whether its conduct with clients crosses the line. Agents interviewed Carol Morgan this week.
"We hope that this becomes a criminal fraud case, and they go after Jeff McCreary's business assets and his personal belongings. That's not vengeance, that's justice. And that's what the law is supposed to give us, justice," Carol Morgan told Action 16.
The attorney general's office would not confirm whether there's a criminal investigation but did say Jeffrey McCreary has a few weeks to respond to the complaints made against him.
McCreary's lawyer tells Action 16 they're working on that. But, when we asked McCreary if he plans to give the Morgans their money back, he didn't respond.
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