LANCASTER - The final person indicted in a multicounty, door-to-door home improvement scam in April pleaded guilty to charges and was sentenced Monday afternoon.
Mark Kitchen, 50, of Circleville, was one of seven Pickaway County residents arrested in connection to the scheme that occurred across four counties, including Fairfield County, and cheated more than a dozen victims out of $102,000.
'I'm sorry for what I did,' Kitchen said. 'I hope someday I could make it right with them.'
Kitchen pleaded guilty to three third-degree felony charges, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, money laundering and theft from an elderly person.
Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge Richard E. Berens also sentenced Kitchen on Monday to 3½ years in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $29,000 in restitution to four victims.
When Berens asked Kitchen what he had spent the money he scammed from elderly residents on, Kitchen replied that he 'had a bad drug addition,' specifically with heroin.
According to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the cases, there were six co-conspirators involved in the crimes: Mark Christman, Michael Fausnaugh, David Ramey, Thristian Harding, Bruce McFarland and Herschel Mumaw. They were all initially arrested on charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, money laundering and theft from an elderly person.
The case against Fausnaugh was dismissed, but the others all pleaded guilty to a set of reduced charges in the summer and fall of 2013.
McFarland and Mumaw received harsher prison sentences because they were previously convicted as part of the 'Circleville 30' scam in 2000. McFarland pleaded guilty Oct. 2 and was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay about $44,600 in restitution. Mumaw was sentenced to seven years in prison with about $41,700 to pay in restitution.
Ramey and Harding were both ordered to serve probation time and to pay $8,620 and $2,650 in restitution, respectively.
Christman pleaded guilty in October and received 42 months in prison. He also was ordered to pay about $11,500 in restitution.
According to the attorney general's office, the suspects approached homeowners about a repair on their home, and when the homeowner agreed to the work, the bill would be higher than anticipated with little to no work accomplished. Once the suspects received the check, they would return and say they were overcharged and ask for a replacement check and cash them both.
The known victims were from Ross, Pickaway, Franklin and Fairfield counties, but the charges were filed in Fairfield County.
sroush@lancaster
eaglegazette.com
740-681-4342
Twitter: @SpencerRoushLEG
No comments:
Post a Comment