Target Roofing owner pleads guilty to bank fraud, false statements to lender; faces more charges

Casey Crowther, owner of Target Roofing, plead guilty on Monday to charges of bank fraud and giving false statements to a lending institution.

This guilty plea is specifically on counts five and six. Crowther still faces other charges of bank fraud (count 1), giving false statements to a lending institution (count 2), illegal monetary transactions (counts 3, 4, and 7) that he has pleaded not guilty to.

Feds say he misrepresented his liquid assets and provided fraudulent loan applications to a mortgage broker and lender.

Crowther said he “needed to make a down payment” and “did not have sufficient funds” so he “altered bank statements on a computer.”

Crowther admitted in court, ‘I doctored the bank statements to obtain a mortgage.”

Crowther Falsified a screenshot from a web page showing inflated balance. He signed and submitted the falsified document showing an account had over a million dollars when it had around $440,000.

The court accepted guilty pleas and adjudicated Crowther guilty of Counts 5 & 6. Court will order a pre-sentencing document and sentencing date.

The trial on the charges he plead not-guilty to is also getting underway Monday with jury selection in Federal Court.

Those charges stem from an alleged scheme to defraud by submitting a fraudulent loan application on behalf of Target Roofing for more than $2 million in PPP loans through the Small Business Administration.

The PPP loan is funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security  (“CARES”) Act.

The penalty for the offense charged in count five, in which he plead guilty, is up to 30 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $1,000,000 or twice the amount of gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, a term of supervised release of up to five years, and a $100 special assessment, according to the

Crowther could face 10 years for each illegal transaction charge if found guilty of those charges. In total, Crowther could be facing up to 140 years in prison.

A jury previously indicted Crowther on September 23 for COVID relief fraud. On October 30 a Federal Grand Jury has returned a superseding indictment charging Crowther with new charges after initially being accused of using COVID-19 relief funds to buy a boat.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office already seized the 40-foot catamaran he purchased. Now, they are hoping to take possession of his million-dollar property in St. James City and $2,098,700. All were said to be acquired as part of the illegal deals he made.

Crowther is out on bond on the remaining charges. Previously, he has admitted no wrongdoing in his applications for government loans for his business Target Roofing.