PIQUA — A Miami County man was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for more than a dozen charges involving corruption, grand theft, and fraud over six years.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Miami County man pleads no contest to securities, fraud, theft charges
News Center 7 followed the story and previously reported that a Piqua man pleaded no contest to 16 total felony charges that involved fraudulent behaviors towards investors and their money.
Scott Fries, 56, entered his no contest plea at the Miami County Common Pleas Court for the following charges:
- One count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity
- Three counts of misrepresentation in the sale of securities
- Four counts of securities fraud
- Two counts of fraudulent, deceptive conduct as an investment advisor representative
- Two counts of grand theft
- One count of false reports
- Two counts of theft from a protected class
- One count of aggravated theft
The defendant was originally indicted on 44 felony counts in November 2021.
He was accused of telling nine Ohio investors that he would place their funds in an investment account, a spokesperson with the Ohio Department of Commerce said. He allegedly put those funds into his own personal accounts and used the money to pay for personal expenses and a prior investor.
Fries faced up to 83 years in prison for the charges. Now, with his plea, he was sentenced to only three for the alleged crimes between March 2016 to June 2020.
He agreed to pay $418,000 in restitution and forfeit his home in the 3300 block of Sioux Drive in Piqua.
The prison he will be incarcerated in and the date he has to report there was not released during the time of reporting.
© 2023 Cox Media Group
