Wild West World founder...fraud

[The Interpreter]

QUOTE Wild West World founder Thomas Etheredge was taken into custody at the San Antonio airport late Wednesday afternoon on a Kansas warrant for investigation of 10 counts of securities fraud, according to officials at the Bexar County Jail, other law enforcement and airport officials....

Kansas Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs said in a news release this morning that his office alleges Etheredge made misrepresentations or failed to disclose material facts prior to obtaining more than $800,000 from private investors from February 2005 through March 2007.

The arrest culminates a two-year state probe into what Etheredge told private investors in late 2006 and 2007 as he scrambled to raise money to salvage his insolvent theme park, which went bankrupt in July 2007....

http://www.kansas.co...ory/793458.html

[The Interpreter]

Guilty on 7 of 9 counts:

...Prosecutors said Etheredge bilked investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the now defunct amusement park and he failed to inform them of his criminal past.

When the verdict was announced Etheredge turned to his wife and winked. She then blew him a kiss.

So far, none of the jury members or Etheredge’s family are willing to talk to the media.

Sentencing is set for March 12at 1:30 where he could face up to 14 years in prison....

http://www.ksn.com/n...EBBp3AT7eQ.cspx

[CedarPointer]

When the whole WWW debacle happened, I felt kind of bad for the guy. That's becoming increasingly less so.