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PARK CITY — A California man who allegedly solicited $100,000 from a Summit County resident to make a movie but then never made the movie and never refunded the money is facing criminal charges.
Thomas Allan Windham, 67, of Brea, California, was charged Wednesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of theft of more than $5,000, and nine counts of communications fraud, all second-degree felonies.
In October 2021, a Summit County resident was introduced to Windham through his agent, according to charging documents. Windham asked the man to invest in the film "Made Guys II."
"(Windham) identified himself on two written agreements as the 'managing member' of 'Made Guys II, L.L.C.' (He) also purported to be the president of Capital Productions LLC, which the agreements stated was the 'producer' of the 'Made Guys' picture," the charges state.
In October and November of 2021, the Summit County man made two transfers of $50,000 each to a bank account with the name "Capital Pictures Inc.," the charges state. The movie was supposed to be completed by June 30, 2022, and the man was promised gross receipts from the film, an executive producer credit and would be given a guest appearance in the movie, according to the charges.
But in November 2021, the victim traveled to Los Angeles and found "no sign of any film production," the charges state. He then found out the status of the movie production was listed as "suspended." The Utah man contacted the "Made Guys" screenplay writer, and found he had "nothing to do" with the production Windham was allegedly arranging, according to the charges.
The Summit County resident asked Windham for his money back. Windham responded with an email, "making excuses as to why the picture was not currently in active production," and told the man to have his attorney write an official letter asking for his money back, the charges state.
On July 18, 2022, Windham sent an email saying the man should be receiving his money shortly.
"(The man) never heard from (Windham) again and never received a return of his $100,000 investment. To (the man's) knowledge, the picture was never filmed/produced," charging documents state.
Police subpoenaed the Capital Pictures Inc. bank account and found it was "forced closed" on June 22, 2022, with a negative balance of $247, and a "review of the accounts' transactions between October 2021 and June 2022 demonstrate that the account was used for personal, rather than business transactions."
