OKLAHOMA CITY – The chief executive officer and chief financial officer of a high-end cabinet business in Oklahoma City are accused of defrauding customers of more than $370,000 and then declaring bankruptcy.
The Attorney General’s Consumer Advocacy Unit filed charges against Travis Guy Morelock, 39, and Jason Edward Grife, 40, including six felony counts for violating the Consumer Protection Act through unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Morelock, who served as CEO, and Grife, who acted as CFO, owned and operated Wilshire Cabinets. Both men listed home addresses in Springfield, Missouri, and were married to each other in 2016, Oklahoma County District Court records show.
Between July 2022 and March 2023, six victims paid the company a total of $374,048 for cabinets to be installed. According to the charges, the defendants never delivered or installed the cabinets and failed to refund any of the money to the victims.
Morelock and Grife abruptly closed the business in March 2023 without notifying their clients, the A.G.’s office reported. Two months later the couple filed for bankruptcy, owing nearly $8 million, federal records reflect.
The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit reported receiving 24 complaints against Wilshire Cabinets.
Each violation of the Consumer Protection Act carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years imprisonment and a $5,000 f ine. Additionally, if convicted the defendants may be required to pay full restitution to the victims.
Broadway Business Park in Oklahoma City won a $6,551 judgment against Morelock and his company in 2023 for failure to pay rent on a suite in Oklahoma City.
Johnston Builders of Oklahoma City, which constructs houses and commercial properties in Oklahoma, sued Morelock and Wilshire Cabinet Co. in 2023 in Okl ahoma County District Court.
Johnston hired Morelock to install cabinets in two houses that Johnston was constructing. Morelock charged Johnston $19,604 up-front on Sept. 29, 2022, on one project, and $21,239 on Dec. 29, 2023, on the o ther project, “for the purpose of paying the manufacturer to construct the cabinets” that Morelock told Johnston he was buying from the company.
The cabinets “were not delivered pursuant to the contracts,” Johnston said in his lawsuit petition. When he investigated, he learned that Wilshire Cabinets “never paid the deposits it received” from Johnston and consequently the manufacturer “never constructed any cabinets.”
Subsequently Johnston discovered that Morelock and Grife filed for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy in Oklahoma City’s Western District Bankruptcy Court on May 1, 2023.
A court document dated June 19, 2023, shows that Morelock and Grife reported owning $500,000 in property, a vehicle valued at $30,000, plus $27,600 worth of household goods and furnishings, and $82,000 in financial assets. Total: $639,645.
Priority unsecured claimants were listed as the Internal Revenue Service, $20,000, and the Oklahoma Tax Commission, $10,000. Morelock and Grife also owed $57,519 on student loans. A discharge notice dated Aug. 2, 2023, listed 318 creditors, including the IRS, the OTC, and Johnston Builders. Total debts of the couple were listed as almost $7.9 million.