According to Clevescene, Monroe Beachy entered a guilty plea today in federal court. His sentence could be 12 to 15 years in prison, but the 78-year-old's defense attorney informed the court he'd ask for a lesser sentence for the elderly defendant. Monroe Beachy, the Amish man from Sugarcreek who federal investigators say ran a $17 million ponzi scheme, wasn’t planning on making a case in the courtroom.
According to paperwork filed earlier this month, the 78-year-old will plead guilty to federal mail fraud charges. This afternoon U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Mike Tobin declined to offer up details on what this means regarding possible prison time or other punishment until the plea is officially on the books. The accused is expected to enter the plea on Thursday.
Breachy is accused of bilking more than 2,600 individuals out of their money, $17 million worth . Since his arrest, Beachy has leaned hard on his Amish street cred while trying to fend off accusations he'd maliciously deceived his clients, many of whom were fellow members of the “plain communities” sprinkled around rural Ohio.
The one thing that did seem to separate Beachy from your standard sleaze who uses the bells and whistle of the financial system to deceive clients is that the Amish investor didn't walk away with ill-gotten proceeds. He was living the Amish plain life and wasn’t pocketing the dough himself.
"The fundamental issue was, he was telling investors he was buying one thing, and in fact he was investing in things that were far riskier."
Read more at http://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2012/03/13/monroe-beachy-amish-bernie-madoff-to-plead-guilty
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