New home nightmare

In a room just off the kitchen area in the Chatham home of Jaigovinda and Phalita Sharma, a wicker sofa and a rocking chair sit amid roughly four dozen potted plants. Out the window is a great view of Lick Creek, adding to the feeling of Zen the couple foresaw when they purchased the $550,000 home three years ago – the place where they would live out their retirement years, near their daughter and grandson.

“It’s a plant/sun room, and the rocking chair is for the grandbaby,” Jaigovinda, who goes by “Jai,” said on Tuesday to a visitor.

After “50 years of saving our pennies,” Jai said, the Sharmas were envisioning a picturesque retirement. The couple moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to be closer to family. But that’s not exactly what’s happened.

Elsewhere around him on Tuesday were a handful of construction workers hammering, buzz-sawing and plowing around the property, all being paid by the Sharmas, rather than through the construction loan from the bank. Jai said he’s already spent $423,000 of his own money on a house that was supposed to have been built by C.A. Jones, Inc., before the construction company based out of St. Clair County, he alleges, up and ran away with their money. 

Theirs is not an isolated case. About two dozen Illinois homebuyers also claim C.A. Jones abandoned properties that were in various stages of construction, leaving them with broken contracts. And the bank that loaned the company money is now trying to foreclose on the houses to recoup its assets, essentially leaving the buyers with no recourse.

It’s complicated, but in a nutshell, buyers such as the Sharmas put money down on new-build house contracts financed by a bank. The banks released funds to C.A. Jones for the construction of the homes, with the agreement that the buyers would settle up with the bank when the home was complete. The requisite inspections and lien waivers would be handled by a title company. 

But, early into the construction of the Sharmas’ home at 1916 Athena Court in Chatham, contractors from C.A. Jones stopped showing up. There was no response to phone calls or emails, and attempts to reach CEO Mike Needles, who lives in Collinsville, were unsuccessful. 

In a worst-case scenario, it is possible that the Sharmas could lose not only the house itself, but around $1 million out of pocket, should they lose their pending lawsuit against the bank, Farmers and Merchants, based in Nashville, Illinois. Documents show the Sharmas have already spent $94,000 for the lot itself, plus another $100,000 as a down payment to the bank and approximately $350,000 still due on the construction loan.  And since C.A. Jones abandoned the property, the Sharmas have paid out of pocket to keep construction of the house ongoing, $423,000 and counting. 

Jai Sharma had open-heart surgery six years ago, which included a seven-day medically induced coma. A native of Guyana who moved to the U.S. when he was 8, Sharma became a licensed attorney who worked primarily in the health care sector, along with a stint in the nuclear power industry. 

You wouldn’t know Jai is stressed when talking to him. He speaks in a quiet, calm manner and smiles a lot. 

“This is life,” he says, gesturing with one arm. 

But, since the mess with C.A. Jones and the bank, he said, his calmness has mostly been an act.

“We moved here with one purpose – to be close to our daughter and grandson. We found this property, very near where our daughter lives, and decided to make this our retirement home. But it’s now turned into this,” he says, pointing to the noisy contractors outside.

“I feel it in here,” he says, pointing to his chest. “It has also been embarrassing to me to be in this situation. How could I have been so deceived? But it’s clear that I am not alone in this. I think what happened here is the bank and the title company did not do their due diligence and just took (C.A. Jones’) word for granted.”

Indeed, as the Belleville News-Democrat reported, both customers and creditors are filing lawsuits – 22 so far – against C.A. Jones, by plaintiffs alleging the same issues as the Sharmas. The company, formerly based in Fairview Heights, was previously the largest homebuilder in the Metro East area. 

The question now is: who pays when a contractor shuts down without notice and takes all the money loaned to it from a bank? The easy answer should be the contractor, but the News-Democrat reported that C.A. Jones, Inc., has essentially gone dark, with the company’s website and physical address abandoned. 

The bank has brought its own lawsuit against C.A. Jones, but in the meantime, is trying to foreclose on all the properties. Calls to Farmers and Merchants Bank and Needles were not returned. 

It’s the kind of smarmy business Jai, as a retired attorney, has seen in other areas. He just never imagined it would happen to him and his wife in the usually rote world of construction and banking. 

At 62 and walking with the aid of a cane, Jai, armed with stacks of paperwork in front of him, nonetheless seems to have one last big fight in him. He is representing himself pro se in a lawsuit against Farmers and Merchants Bank, with C.A. Jones, Inc. also named. A preliminary hearing is slated for July 8 at the Sangamon County Court in front of Judge Adam Giganti. 

“If I have to start over, if I lose this whole thing, then I’ll consider it a debt paid for some prior misdeed,” Jai said. “I’m not doing this looking for sympathy from anybody. I’ll be OK no matter what. But I feel bad for the other victims in this whole thing, who maybe don’t have the resources I do. I would like to help lead the way in getting justice for them, not just me.”   

This article appears in June 18-24, 2026.