Danville Business Owner Sentenced To 10 Years For Wire Fraud And Identity Theft

FRANKFORT, KY - The owner of a children’s fun and gaming center in Danville, Ky., has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding investors in his business.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced 50-year-old Paul Christopher Turner on Monday, for aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. Under federal law, Turner will have to serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.

According to court documents, Turner used the personal identifying information of some investors without their permission and forged signatures of a notary public, in order to obtain loans and open lines of credit for his business.

Turner previously pled guilty to an indictment that alleged from approximately 2004 through 2013 he raised millions of dollars from investors to promote his company. Turner improperly lured some of that money from investors through misrepresentations and falsehoods about how the investors’ money would be used. Turner then applied some of the funds toward his own living expenses.

Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Dugan Wong, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, Pittsburgh Division; and Rodney Brewer, Commissioner, Kentucky State Police jointly made the announcement today.

The investigation was conducted by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Kentucky State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth R. Taylor.