Fraud stretched from Ohio to Florida

HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (WDTN) - A former Huber Heights man pleaded guilty to a fraud ring that stole nearly $3-million from residents in Ohio all the way south to Florida.

Theodore Thomas is considered the ringleader of a scheme that began in 2007.

Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine says 18 people were charged.  15 have already pleaded guilty.

Dewine says the defendants would promise to sell people's land for a solar energy plant.  Other victims agreed to purchase the land and pay closing costs.  Investigators say they were all hoodwinked.  There was no selling or buying of land, just money being stolen.

The indictment said that group worked out of operations called United Property Sales, World Wide Land Marketing and Nationwide Advertising and Marketing.  It says that one of the company's website videos was shot at Brukner Nature Center in Troy.

The enterprise operated from many locations in the Dayton area includiing Troy, Huber Heights and Vandalia.  It later opened branches in Tampa, Florida.

The Ohio Attorney General's Office was assisted in the case by Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal.

The remaining three defendants are scheduled for trial June 18.