{"id":151203,"date":"2026-02-11T05:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/151203\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T05:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T05:04:09","slug":"st-johns-county-home-builder-accused-of-fraud-expected-to-plead-guilty-be-sentenced-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/151203\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Johns County home builder accused of fraud expected to plead guilty, be sentenced this month"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A St. Johns County homebuilder who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars and abandoning projects in Nocatee is expected to plead guilty and be sentenced later this month. <\/p>\n

A State Attorney\u2019s Office spokesperson told News4JAX on Tuesday that a plea deal has been negotiated with Spencer Calvert, the former owner of the Pineapple Corporation. <\/p>\n

RELATED COVERAGE: From dream home to nightmare: Jacksonville homebuilder accused of abandoning projects in Nocatee neighborhood<\/a> | \u2018Below Deck\u2019 TV star among those left scrambling after $1.6M Nocatee home left unfinished by builder<\/a> | Charter planes, liquor and $19K on Jags tickets: How investigators say accused Nocatee home builder spent stolen money<\/a><\/p>\n

The spokesperson did not detail what is included in the plea agreement, but said \u201crestitution for the victims is still a top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calvert, 53, was arrested in 2024.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Calvert duped more than a dozen Nocatee homeowners out of money, including Capt. Sandy Yawn, the star of the hit Bravo show \u201cBelow Deck Mediterranean,\u201d and her wife, Leah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to the Sheriff\u2019s Office, Calvert had contracts with customers to build homes in Nocatee from 2019-2023, but the homes were never finished. A total of 13 victims came forward and reported their experiences.<\/p>\n

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 over $17 million.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office said Calvert also failed to pay subcontractors, and that caused more than $900,000 in liens to be filed against the alleged victims.<\/p>\n

He was charged with embezzling construction funds, grand larceny of $100,000 or more and an organized scheme to defraud.<\/p>\n

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 Corporation.<\/p>\n

Investigators said those were just some of the eight different ways Calvert used the company\u2019s money for his own personal use.<\/p>\n

The report also said Calvert took more than $900,000 as a loan from the company, but investigators didn\u2019t find any documents stating the terms of the loan.<\/p>\n

More than $476,000 was converted to his personal Bank of America account disguised as American Express reimbursements, and $569,000 was said to be used for expenses with model homes, but investigators said that also went to his account.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also accused of paying himself a salary of more than $700,000.<\/p>\n

Most notable in the list of his AMEX charges is the $19,152 he spent on Jaguars tickets in 2022.<\/p>\n

Out of 134 payments on Calvert\u2019s American Express accounts between 2019 and 2024, investigators wrote in the report that \u201c42% of the charges were for what appear to be legitimate construction-related activities,\u201d but approximately \u201c58% of the charges appear to be for restaurants, sporting events, furniture stores, plane charters, and liquor retailers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calvert is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n

News4JAX tried to contact Calvert\u2019s attorney, but he did not immediately respond.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A St. Johns County homebuilder who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars and abandoning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,73042,73041,5902],"class_list":{"0":"post-151203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-nocatee","12":"tag-spencer-calvert","13":"tag-st-johns-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}