‘Scam from start to finish.’ Kentucky man took money for homes he didn’t deliver
A Southern Kentucky man who took more than $50,000 from people to build tiny homes he never delivered has been sentenced to two years and four months in federal prison.
The sentence for Timothy M. Kelley includes $53,915 in restitution as well.
Kelley, 46, who has lived in Wayne County and in Somerset, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He advertised on Facebook that he could build tiny homes and took money from 11 individuals or couples in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia and South Carolina, according to court records.
Kelley sent the victims photos of tiny homes that didn’t belong to him and blamed delays in delivering the homes on the COVID-19 pandemic and other excuses, according to a sentencing memorandum by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul McCaffrey.
He didn’t deliver any of the homes.
Kelley knew some of the people wanted tiny homes to deal with challenges. For instance, one woman told Kelley she needed a home for her mentally handicapped brother, and told him how excited her brother was, according to the sentencing memo.
The woman wrote in a victim impact statement that it “broke my heart when I had to tell my little brother that Mr. Kelley was a scam artist and there would be no tiny home.”
Another woman gave Kelley money for a home for her disabled son, and another customer was a woman that Kelley knew was a widow who’d been hurt in a car wreck. In negotiating the price of the home, that woman’s daughter told Kelley they were “currently broke broke,” according to the prosecution memo.
“This wire fraud crime was a scam, from start to finish, that preyed on the victims’ trust and in some instances took advantage of their unfortunate circumstances,” McCaffrey said in the memo.
U.S. District Judge Robert E. Wier sentenced Kelley on Wednesday.
Kelley also faces charges in state court including trafficking in drugs and receiving stolen property.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 8:22 AM.
