A former eastern Iowa home builder will spend one month in prison on bank fraud charges.

Seventy-year-old Walter R. Zimmerer III operated Zimmerer Custom Homes in LeClaire. Earlier this year he pled guilty to nine counts of bank fraud in a scheme that dated back to 2007 and 2008. Zimmerer took out operating loans for new construction projects in Bettendorf and LeClaire, but used the money to pay off debts for previous construction. He eventually defaulted on the loans.

The two banks were able to complete the projects and sell the homes, but their losses amounted to almost 380-thousand dollars. Zimmerer on Friday was ordered by a judge to repay that money, plus he was sentenced to one month in prison, followed by a year of in-home confinement.