By James McNair
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BATAVIA - Just three years after serving as president of the Cincinnati home builders group, Chester Calkins Jr. spent Tuesday night in a Clermont County jail cell, accused of writing $50,000 in bad checks to the company that installed and painted drywall for him.

Calkins, 63, surrendered Tuesday and was booked and held overnight without bail.

A municipal judge will consider bond this afternoon at 1.

Calkins is the president of Homes by Calkins in Fairfield. The company builds mostly condominiums across the Tristate. Its projects include Village Parke in Florence, Forest Ridge in Cold Spring, Village on The Green in Maineville and Fairway Crossing in Lebanon.

Court records, however, depict a company in financial distress.

In May, Provident Bank obtained a civil judgment against Homes by Calkins in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court for defaulting on a $610,000 loan made in 1999.

The bank accused the company of selling unsold condo units to a third party without the bank's knowledge or permission.

It said Homes by Calkins owes $438,916, an amount personally guaranteed by Chester Calkins.

Unpaid subcontractors have filed more than a dozen mechanics liens against Homes by Calkins in recent months, although that gives them no assurance of being paid.

One of Calkins' creditors, Brock's Drywall & Painting in Batavia, lost patience with Calkins and filed criminal charges against him July 15. One check, for $29,500, was written last Halloween, but bounced. Having done work for Calkins for three years, owner Charlie Brock said he gave Calkins the benefit of the doubt.

"He just said that he was having financial troubles but that he would make the checks good," Brock said.

That never happened.

Brock said Calkins owes him about $280,000. He said he lost about $500,000 to the Erpenbeck Co., in the 2002 collapse of one of Greater Cincinnati's biggest home builders.

No responses

"We kept calling him and finding out about other jobs where he hadn't paid us," he said.

"He wouldn't return any phone calls, so the prosecutor told me to send him a registered letter, but he still didn't make good."

A document at Clermont County Municipal Court perhaps explains it.

An entry by Union Township Detective Jeff Brown says, "Owner of Homes by Calkins going bankrupt."

With a police officer seeking him with an arrest warrant, Calkins turned himself in Tuesday afternoon.

The sheriff's department would not allow an Enquirer reporter to interview Calkins.

Calls to his office in Fairfield were met by an answering system.

Homes by Calkins is a privately owned company, and financial information was not available Tuesday.

Chester Calkins served as president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati in 2000, but concerns about his lack of responsiveness to distress calls from his customers led to the cancellation of his firm's membership several weeks ago, an association employee said.

Enquirer reporter Marie McCain contributed to this report. E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com.