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ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - A St. George contractor will serve up to 15 years in prison for misappropriating money that a real-estate developer gave him to build houses.
Assistant Attorney General Jake Taylor said 45-year-old Aaron David Trent Needham was sentenced Wednesday on a fraud conviction.
Taylor said Needham misspent $800,000 from the developer on things unrelated to custom homes he was supposed to build in St. George and Mesquite, Nev. He was accused of defrauding an investment group headed by Clement F. Tebbs of Salt Lake City.
Court records show 5th District Court Judge A. Lynn Payne fined Needham $4,500 and ordered him to pay $776,000 in restitution.
Investigators said Needham successfully built some homes for investors before the real-estate crash left him with a pile of debts he couldn't pay.
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