Jeffrey Morris Sentenced To 5 Years For Federal Wire Fraud, Tax Charges

The head of Roxby Development was sentenced to 5 years in prison Thursday afternoon after pleading guilty to one count each of federal wire fraud and failure to pay taxes.

Jeffrey Morris appeared in federal court Thursday in Wheeling to learn his sentence. He pleaded guilty to those two counts in February. Following those five years, he will have three years of supervised release. While in prison, he must pay $50 per month in restitution. Once released, that becomes $300 a month.

Morris, the former owner of the McLure Hotel and Scottish Rite Cathedral, among other properties, faced a maximum of 6 1/2 years in prison and $5,000,000 in restitution. Morris had faced 28 federal counts, 18 of wire fraud and 10 of tax evasion, in his original indictment.

From December 2019 to June 2021, Morris obtained money and property by means of "materially false and fraudulent pretenses and promises," according to the Feb. 7 plea agreement. The companies owned by Roxby - The Monastery, Roxby Development and Roxby McLure - were funded primarily through investment loans totaling approximately $6.9 million from at least 20 investors. In regard to the count of failure to pay over taxes, according to court documents, on July 31, 2022, Roxby Development willfully failed to pay the IRS payroll taxes withheld from employees' paychecks totaling approximately $80,287. Roxby Development also failed to pay approximately $89,000 in payroll taxes to the IRS.

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