Charleston Woman Sentenced for Federal Securities-Related Crime

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Deanna L. Drumm, 62, of Charleston, was sentenced on October 16, 2025, to four years of federal probation, including one year of home detention, and ordered to pay $398,533.52 in restitution for aiding and abetting the sale and offer of unregistered securities. Drumm admitted to a role in two real estate-related investment schemes conceived and perpetrated by her son, Theodore Miller.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between February 2022 and August 2024, Drumm was vice president of operations for Bear Industries LLC, a West Virginia company solely owned and operated by Miller. Bear Industries originally served as an umbrella entity for other related businesses including a real estate company, a real estate holding company, and a construction company. Drumm was responsible for the day-to-day operational tasks of the Bear Industries entities, with Miller providing her input and direction, while he lived outside the United States from in or about June 2021 to on or about August 8, 2024.

During the time period, Miller solicited direct investments for the purported development of properties on Bigley Avenue in Charleston and solicited investments in “Bear Lute,” a pooled real estate investment vehicle. Both the direct investments and the Bear Lute investments were securities as defined by federal law, they were offered through interstate commerce via the internet, and they were required to be registered. No registration statement was in effect for either of these securities, and neither was exempt from the registration requirement. As part of her guilty plea, Drumm admitted that she aided and abetted the offering of these unregistered securities by processing payments by investors, assisting with the creation of the investment prospectuses, and maintaining investor lists.

In September 2023, the West Virginia Securities Commission issued a cease-and-desist letter to Bear Industries directing it to stop the unregistered sale and offering of securities in Bear Lute and issued a cease-and-desist order in November 2023. As part of her guilty plea, Drumm admitted that she continued to help operate Bear Lute in violation of the letter and the order after receiving them.

Miller’s investment schemes were also fraudulent. As part of her guilty plea, Drumm admitted that she was aware of numerous false and misleading representations made in relation to both schemes. Miller obtained a total of $95,000 from the direct investment scheme and approximately $303,950 from the Bear Lute scheme. Miller did not apply these funds toward the real estate projects in the manner he advertised to investors. Instead, Miller spent the money on himself and on unrelated expenses, debts, and obligations

Miller, 36, of South Charleston, was sentenced on September 22, 2025, to seven years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud on March 12, 2025. Miller was also ordered to pay $398,533.52 in restitution.

United States Attorney Moore Capito made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the West Virginia Fusion Center, the West Virginia Securities Commission, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

United States District Judge Irene C. Berger imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Hanks and former Assistant United States Attorney Holly Wilson prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-179.

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