Timeline: The Rise and Fall of Roxby Development
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Below is a timeline of events from Roxby Development's purchase of the Mount Carmel Monastery until present day. Included are points where federal prosecutors allege Roxby head Jeffrey Morris committed wire fraud and tax evasion. All these alleged events are outlined in a federal indictment charging Morris with 18 counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of tax evasion, and other reports.
• Dec. 26, 2019 - Morris creates The Monastery LLC for the purpose of buying the Mount Carmel Monastery to turn it into a boutique hotel.
• Jan. 31, 2020 - The Monastery bought for $430,000 with funds received from investors.
• Feb. 3, 2020 - Morris creates Roxby Development LLC with Morris as managing member and president with 51% ownership interest.
• Sept. 15, 2020 - Roxby Development buys The Scottish Rite Cathedral for $750,000
• Sept. 18, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 to say their $375,000 investment would be used to pay toward the Scottish Rite Cathedral purchase ($50,000), toward repairing its boiler ($50,000), toward general cathedral maintenance and brick work ($50,000) and other renovations ($225,000) from Jan. 1, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022.
• Oct. 13, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails an individual with whom he agreed to pay a fee in exchange for introductions to investors. Morris allegedly attaches a document falsely representing $690,000 in renovations at the Monastery.
• Oct. 15, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 saying he would receive historic tax credits for the Scottish Rite Cathedral and sell them to Investor 1.
• Oct. 28, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 saying he'd sell the tax credits for a value he "expected to be approximately $212,500." He later emails Investor 1 again, allegedly falsely stating he had been approved for tax credits at the Monastery.
• Oct. 29, 2020 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest $100,000 into Scottish Rite Cathedral renovation. He allegedly misuses that investment to pay payroll, also writing several checks totaling $9,600 with "Monastery" in the memo line.
• Oct. 30, 2020 - Morris allegedly misuses approximately $17,000 of Investor 1's funds for the cathedral to pay another investor. The memo line of the check states "Loan Repayment."
• Nov. 6, 2020 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest another $150,000 into Scottish Rite Cathedral renovation.
• Nov. 8, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 to say certain work has been completed at the Scottish Rite, including cleaning up a billiards room, completing one part of a historic tax credit submission and starting another and signing contracts for elevator refurbishing. Prosecutors allege none of that had been completed.
• Nov. 17, 2020 - Morris allegedly uses $15,709 of Investor 1's funds for Cathedral renovations to wire someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• Dec. 3, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 to say brick repointing at the Cathedral had been completed, the first part of the historic tax credit submission completed, the deposits on the elevator refurbishing were paid and the second part of the historic tax credit submission was started. Prosecutors allege none of that was true.
• Dec. 9 2020 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest $100,000 into renovating the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
• Dec. 10, 2020 - Morris allegedly uses $55,250 of Investor 1's money to wire someone who had invested in The Monastery, and used another $25,000 to wire someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• Dec. 18, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 to say a company had agreed to lease part of the Cathedral for three years, and attached a lease agreement purporting to be signed by the principal of the company. Prosecutors allege Morris had reached no such agreement and the company's principal had not signed the lease agreement attached to the email. Investor 1 would provide that information to Investor 2.
• Dec. 29, 2020 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 and attaches a loan agreement and promissory note for Investor 2 to execute. The agreement stated that Roxby would use the investment to "finance the rehabilitation, remodeling and renovation" of the Cathedral.
• Dec. 31, 2020 - Morris gets Investor 2 to invest $100,000 into renovating the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
• Jan. 4, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $20,000 of Investor 2's money to wire someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• Feb. 1, 2021 - Morris allegedly emails Investors 1 and 2 and states Roxby had "met construction projections" at the Cathedral and would "complete construction" by July 1, 2021.
• Feb. 2, 2021 - Morris allegedly signs a second loan agreement with Investor 2, that agreement stating Roxby would use the funds to "finance the rehabilitation, remodeling and renovation" of the Cathedral.
• Feb. 3, 2021 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 2 to invest $200,000 in renovating the Cathedral.
• Feb. 5, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $72,000 of Investor 2's funds to wire someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• March 27, 2021 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1, attaching a spreadsheet allegedly claiming $719,000 had been spent on Monastery renovations in 2020.
• April 19, 2021 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest $850,000 in renovating The Monastery.
• April 20, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $31,050 of those funds to fund a real-time payment to someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• April 22, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $95,000 of Investor 1's funds to fund a check to another investor.
• April 26, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $43,200 of Investor 1's money to fund a real-time payment to someone who had invested in The Monastery.
• May 8, 2021 - Morris allegedly submits proof of funds to the company handling the auction of The McLure Hotel, sending a screenshot showing the balance of three accounts totaling $844,000. Prosecutors claim the balance of those accounts actually was $48,000 and the total balance on all Roxby-related accounts was $225,000.
• June 16, 2021 - Morris allegedly emails the representative of the McLure Hotel seller, falsely claiming a private nonprofit economic development organization gave him a specific timeline by which he could expect funding to close the purchase of the hotel. Prosecutors claim he had not been given any such timeline.
• June 25, 2021 - Morris creates Roxby McLure, LLC, with Roxby Development as sole member, to purchase the McLure Hotel.
• July 11, 2021 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 about the McClure, stating that $1.25 million "would come from TIF funding, likely as the final construction draw at around the 8-9 month mark." Prosecutors claim Morris knew he could not reasonably expect to receive that amount in the represented time period.
• July 14, 2021 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest $350,000 in the purchase of The McLure.
• July 15, 2021 - Morris allegedly uses $50,000 of Investor 1's money to wire another investor.
• July 16, 2021 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 1 to invest $350,000 in the initial operation and renovation of The McLure.
• Aug. 2, 2021 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 3 to transfer $250,000 by wire to a bank account of the agent conducting the closing for the McLure purchase. Prosecutors claim Morris fraudulently promised Investor 3 they would be paid back in two weeks plus interest at 15% when he knew he couldn't pay on those terms.
• Aug. 3, 2021 - Roxby McLure buys The McLure Hotel for $6.245 million.
• April 10, 2022 - Morris allegedly texts Investor 3, falsely stating he "got confirmation ... that we will be able to refinance the Scottish Rite by early June and [be] able to pay off about $3,500,000 worth of debt." Prosecutors claim Morris knew Roxby had not started any refinance loan process and received no such confirmation.
• April 30, 2022 - Prosecutors claim Morris willfully failed to pay $37,447.26 in payroll taxes and $19,416.77 in FICA employer's matching taxes.
• June 2022 - L&L Painting LLC of Glen Dale files a mechanics lien seeking $67,249 for labor and materials provided on the McLure and the adjacent parking garage.
• June 30, 2022 - Morris allegedly texts Investor 3 stating he had talked to a bank president the previous day and falsely stating "he would be in touch on Tuesday to discuss terms" on the refinance loan mentioned in April. Prosecutors claim he knew Roxby had not started any such process and would not be discussing loan terms on that specified day.
• July 4, 2022 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 2 saying he would close on a refinance loan "by the end of the month" and that Roxby was "already through part of the process." Prosecutors claim he knew neither was true.
• July 5, 2022 - Morris allegedly emails a bank representative with an attachment containing materially incomplete financial information, because it failed to include the substantial debts of Roxby Labs.
• July 6, 2022 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1 falsely stating he was "2-3 weeks away from a Scottish Rite refinance." Prosecutors claim Morris knew no refinancing loan process had started and there was no reason to anticipate closing on a loan in that timeframe.
• July 18, 2022 - Morris allegedly gets Investor 4 to transfer $30,000 by wire to a bank account based on the fraudulent promise the money would benefit Roxby Labs. Morris allegedly uses part of that investment to pay payroll to McLure Hotel employees. He also allegedly uses $5,500 of that money to wire someone who invested in the McLure.
• July 19, 2022 - Morris allegedly emails Investor 1, falsely stating he was "making progress toward a loan package in the next 10 days" for a refinance loan on the Cathedral.
• July 31, 2022 - Prosecutors claim Morris willfully fails to pay $80,287.26 in payroll taxes and $43,964.37 in FICA employer's matching taxes.
• Aug. 18, 2022 - Four Roxby employees file civil complaints in Ohio County Magistrate Court, claiming Roxby owed them unpaid wages totalling more than $22,000 between the four of them.
• Oct. 31, 2022 - Prosecutors allege Morris willfully failed to pay $32,408.76 in payroll taxes and $18,975.54 in FICA employer's matching taxes.
• Jan. 31, 2023 - Prosecutors allege Morris willfully failed to pay $5,000.01 in payroll taxes and $3,095.11 in FICA employer's matching taxes.
• April 2023 - A legal advertisement announcing the May 2 foreclosure sale of the McLure Hotel is posted.
• April 30, 2023 - Prosecutors allege Morris willfully fails to pay $8,377.72 in payroll taxes and $4,362.41 in FICA employer's matching taxes.
• May 1, 2023 - Roxby files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• May 17, 2023 - A federal bankruptcy judge tosses Roxby's case, citing the fact that Roxby did not have property insurance on either the McLure or the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
• June 1, 2023 - Frances Garey has ownership of the McLure returned to her after she submits a credit bid at the foreclosure auction.
• June 21, 2023 - The Freemasons have ownership of the Scottish Rite Cathedral returned to them after submitting a credit bid at the foreclosure auction.
• Sept. 8, 2023 - Morris is indicted in federal court on one count of wire fraud, forcing him to turn in his passport.
• Sept. 27, 2023 - Morris is indicted in federal court on 18 counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of tax evasion.