(Cedar Rapids)– A Sheridan, Indiana man has pled guilty in U.S. District Court to charges related to defrauding a couple of companies, including Cycle Country Accessories Corporation in Spencer.
59-year-old Gene “Bob” Hancher entered the plea Friday to one count of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud.
During the plea hearing, Hancher admitted that between about April 2005 and January 2010, he fraudulently obtained money from investors that was supposed to be invested in a public stock offering for company in Henderson, Colorado.
Hancher also admitted that between about September 2009 and January 2010 he defrauded Cycle Country Accessories Corporation of Spencer while he was chairman of the company’s board of directors. Court documents say the company gave Hancher more than $500,000 under the guise of a program to take Cycle Country private through a stock buyback. They say Hancher misappropriated most of that money.
Sentencing will be held once a pre-sentence report is completed.
Hancher was released on bond in the meantime. He faces a maximum sentence of 45 years’ imprisonment, a fine equal to the greater of twice the gross gain resulting from the offenses, twice the gross loss resulting from the offenses…or $500,000; along with $200 in special assessments and eight years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Chicago Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
