Collingsworth
Photo courtesty of ODRC
BELLEFONTAINE — A former Auglaize County contractor has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for scamming dozens of customers.
Jeffrey Collingsworth, 48, was sentenced last week in Logan County Common Pleas Court to a prison term of 18 months on each of three counts: two fourth-degree felony charges of grand theft and one fifth-degree count of theft. The sentences were ordered by Judge Kevin Braig to be served concurrent to each other but consecutive to cases in Mercer, Shelby and Auglaize counties, for a total of what Logan County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Stewart said resulted in a sentence of approximately 10 years in prison.
Collingsworth in March entered guilty pleas to charges related to his contracting business, J&R Roofing and Remodeling.
Investigators discovered that Collingsworth had scammed at least a dozen customers, defrauding them of more than $375,000 across various counties, including Adams County in Indiana, Monroe County in Michigan, and Allen, Auglaize, Logan, Mercer and Shelby counties in Ohio.
During the June 7 sentencing hearing, two of the Logan County victims spoke about their losses, amounting to $47,000 and $9,250, respectively. Collingsworth was ordered to pay restitution to both victims, along with an additional $4,400 to a third victim who did not appear in court.
The offenses occurred between September and December of 2021. Collingsworth’s victims had paid him for labor, materials and supplies for various construction projects that were never completed, Stewart said. Among the victims, two had hired Collingsworth for the construction of pole barns, while another had relied on him to install a metal roof.
Collingsworth has a lengthy criminal record in Auglaize County and was on probation there at the time of the Logan County offenses.
In 2006, he was convicted of multiple counts of theft by deception and telecommunications fraud and was sentenced to 59 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay more than $44,000 in fines, restitution and court costs.
Collingsworth was granted a judicial release in September of 2008 but less than two years later he was found to have violated terms of his community control and was returned to prison.
In 2016 he was charged with two counts of theft, fourth-degree misdemeanors, and in 2020 Collingsworth was guilty of failure to appear.
On Jan. 12 of this year, he was sentenced in Auglaize County on charges of Medicare fraud and theft by deception, each fourth-degree felonies. Collingsworth was sentenced to prison terms of 18 months on each count, to be served consecutively to each other and consecutive to sentences in Mercer and Shelby counties.
Restitution in the amounts of $37,443 and $31,040 were ordered to Ohio Job and Family Services and Bruce Miller, respectively.
