ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A St. Johns County builder is now headed to trial after a plea deal fell apart on Tuesday afternoon.
Spencer Calvert was expected to enter a plea and be sentenced in court. Prosecutors had previously presented a deal that would have sent him to prison for five years.
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But after emotional testimony from families who say they were left financially devastated, that agreement unraveled.
Family after family stood up in court, describing what they say Calvert did to them.
“Spencer Calvert took everything from us,” one victim said.
Another told the court, “He used our money to fund his lifestyle.”
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One of the victims is Captain Sandy Yawn. She’s well known for her role on Bravo’s “Below Deck” series.
“We have suffered enough and I want closure and that man needs to go to prison,” Yawn said in court.
Investigators say Calvert, the owner of Pineapple Corporation, controlled 43 lots in The Vista at Twenty Mile neighborhood in Nocatee.
Thirteen of those lots were sold to families who collectively paid nearly $20 million for luxury homes that were left half-built or never built at all.
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Those unfinished projects led to felony charges, including misappropriation of construction funds, organized scheme to defraud, and grand theft. Calvert had initially pleaded not guilty.
Under the proposed plea deal read in court, Calvert would have received five years in the Department of Corrections with credit for time served, followed by 20 years of probation. He would have surrendered his contractor’s license, completed 50 hours of community service, and paid $1.47 million in restitution through monthly payments. He was also expected to make a $150,000 payment in court.
For the families, that just wasn’t enough.
“This is money that I earned, and my children lost,” one victim told the judge.
Another family said they had to tap into retirement savings and even money set aside for their daughter’s education after their home was left unfinished.
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Their daughter had been accepted into her dream school, they said, but with their savings gone, they could not make it work.
The plea deal sparked a nearly two-hour mediation between prosecutors and the defense.
When the court resumed, the outcome had changed.
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The state offered a new deal of 10 years in prison and $650,000 in restitution. Calvert rejected it.
With no agreement in place, the case is now headed to trial.
Both sides are scheduled to return to court on April 9 at 9 a.m.
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