Man accused of cabinet-making scheme returns to jail

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A north Georgia cabinet maker accused of deceiving customers out of thousands of dollars is in jail once again.
 
Channel 2 Action News has been investigating Joe Alan Graham for weeks. His most recent arrest is in Gwinnett County.
 
Channel 2's Tony Thomas said Graham is locked up on a felony charge of theft of pay for property improvements. He's being held on an $11,500 cash bond.
  
Channel 2 first went undercover to investigate Graham last month, traveling to his Franklin County workshop where he promised the undercover team they could have custom quality cabinets before Christmas.
 
The crew revisited Graham as authorities arrested him for theft by deception for failed work with an Athensarea couple.  He maintained his innocence.
  
"You're going to have some disgruntled customers," Graham said.
 
But now he's in trouble for a contract he signed with Snellville resident Aissatou Bah.  A year after she first found Graham on Craigslist and hired him to redo her fire-damaged kitchen, she said she still waits for cabinets to be produced.

Bah said she does not think Graham ever made the cabinets.

Graham bills himself on the Internet as a semi-retired cabinet maker with deals up to 50 percent less than retailers.
  
Another unhappy customer of Graham's is also coming forward.
 
DeKalb County resident Emmett Hawkins has $8500 worth of cabinets sitting in his garage. He bought the custom boxes from Graham, but said Graham never installed them. When Hawkins hired another crew, they found them unusable.
 
"One trip he was supposed to do measurements, all he did was pick up money," Hawkins said.
  
Some of the cabinets were uneven, others he said hung several inches past the wall. In the bathrooms, the cabinets weren't even deep enough for the sinks.
 
"He makes you feel like he knows what he's talking about. He can talk the talk," said Hawkins." At the end of the day, I've got just a bunch of firewood."

WSBTV