A Birmingham homebuilder has pleaded guilty to defrauding more than a dozen people out of more than $1.2 million combined.

Cecil Wayne Sanford, 58, contracted to build homes for the victims yet they saw little to no work done, authorities said.

Sanford this week pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon, according to joint statement Thursday issued by Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples.

Sanford was a residential builder in Alabama who operated through his business, Stone Pointe Builders, LLC.

Between 2020 and early 2022, more than a dozen victims in the Birmingham area contracted with Sanford to build their homes and paid Sanford substantial sums of money – tens of thousands of dollars or more.

The work was never done, despite Sanford’s representations, draws on their construction loans, and invoices for construction-related expenses, authorities said.

Sanford made statements to victims about how their funds would be used and then spent the money in other ways, including to pay his own living expenses.

In February 2022, days after closing with a family on a construction contract and collecting more than $27,000 from the family as a down payment, Sanford moved $10,000 into his personal bank account, withdrew it, abruptly closed the business, and left town.

In his plea agreement, Sanford agreed to pay restitution to victims totaling more than $1.2 million.

The FBI investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney J.B. Ward is prosecuting. The Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board assisted in the investigation.

Sanford will be sentenced later this year. The maximum penalty for wire fraud is twenty years in prison.