The plea deal for a St. Johns County homebuilder accused of embezzling millions of dollars and abandoning projects in Nocatee was rejected Feb. 24 after objections by alleged victims who thought the original plea deal wasn’t strong enough, reports Jacksonville Daily Record news partner News4Jax.com.
Spencer Calvert, the former owner of the Pineapple Corp., was arrested in February 2024.
Calvert, 53, is charged with embezzling construction funds, grand larceny of $100,000 or more and an organized scheme to defraud.
In the rejected plea deal, Calvert’s attorney said that he would pay $1,474,000 in restitution in monthly payments once he gets out of prison, which would have been a five-year sentence. He intended to pay $150,000 upfront to the victims. Calvert was also expected to do 50 hours of community service and surrender his license.
After two hours of negotiations, the state came back and offered Calvert, 53, a 10-year prison sentence and $650,000 in restitution to be split among the 13 victims instead of $150,000 for each victim.
There was no agreement from the defense, so a pretrial date is set for 9 a.m. April 9.
Prosecutors said Calvert duped more than a dozen Nocatee homeowners out of money, including Capt. Sandy Yawn, the star of the Bravo reality show “Below Deck Mediterranean,” and her wife, Leah.
Capt. Sandy Yawn said that Calvert took everything from them.
“You lied to us, you promised us,” she said. “You acted like you were our friend, that you wanted to help us, and you destroyed us, every one of us and you stay here and you still live in your home. Well, we have wires hanging from our house.”
According to the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, Calvert had contracts with customers to build homes in Nocatee from 2019-23, but the homes were never finished. A total of 13 victims came forward and reported their experiences.
According to investigators, Calvert got millions of dollars in deposits from customers to build their custom homes and misappropriated over $15 million. Finishing building their homes with new contractors was expected to cost the victims more than $17 million.
The Sheriff’s Office said Calvert also failed to pay subcontractors, and that caused more than $900,000 in liens to be filed against the alleged victims.
Investigators said a total of $2,238,000 was stolen or embezzled from homeowners, and $1,387,000 was owed to subcontractors for work performed for the Pineapple Corp.