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MIAMI (AP) -- A federal jury in Florida convicted a show promoter of stealing thousands of dollars by selling tickets to schoolchildren for a nonexistent Christmas pageant.
The promoter --52-year-old David Lee Ellisor -- purportedly carried out similar scams in Salt Lake City and other communities.
He was convicted yesterday of mail fraud, then fired his attorney while vowing to represent himself in the sentencing phase.
Ellisor could get a maximum of five years in prison at his May sentencing for each of the eight counts of mail fraud. He has already served a year awaiting trial for the December 2003 scam that left hundreds of students crying outside the closed Coconut Grove Convention Center.
Ellisor hid out for six weeks after federal mail fraud charges were filed.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
