A former pace boat builder who obtained a heat welcome 5 years in the past from officers blissful to see him arrange enterprise in Volusia County, Florida, faces greater than 30 years in jail after an Ohio jury discovered him responsible of ripping off boat house owners in six states.
Todd Allen Lamb, 51, was declared responsible by a jury on six counts of felony theft, one rely of defrauding collectors, and one rely of partaking in a sample of corrupt exercise, mentioned prosecutor Eric Stewart in Logan County, Ohio, on Friday, Oct. 31.
Todd Allen Lamb
“He defrauded victims from a number of states, together with Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee,” Stewart mentioned.
Lamb, arrested after a three-day trial led to a responsible verdict, faces a most sentence of 32 1/2 years in jail. He can be sentenced Nov. 26, Stewart mentioned in an e mail to The Daytona Seaside Information-Journal.
The case in opposition to Lamb’s ex-wife, Karen Nicole Lamb, who was additionally indicted in Ohio on 9 counts, together with felony expenses of grand theft in September 2024, continues to be pending, Stewart mentioned.
Todd Lamb and his household obtained a heat welcome when he relocated his high-performance boat firm, Spectre Powerboats, to a 26,000-square-foot area at DeLand Municipal Airport in Florida from central Ohio, in keeping with a December 2021 press launch.
Boater who stole again his boat pleads no contest
The Information-Journal first discovered of the fraud expenses in opposition to the Lambs in 2024 from Terrance Weber, a businessman from New York, who filed a lawsuit in a Volusia County courtroom in April 2024, accusing the Lambs of ripping him off for $271,787 plus a Spectre efficiency boat he traded in for $80,000.
Weber was arrested on Dec. 24, 2022, for allegedly paying a person to steal again the trade-in boat from Lamb’s DeLand store after the boat builder didn’t ship.
Weber pleaded no contest to housebreaking of an occupied construction on July 30, and his adjudication of guilt was withheld. He was sentenced to 4 years’ probation.
Todd Lamb was not prosecuted in Volusia County for the alleged theft of $271,787 from Weber, and the courtroom listed Todd Lamb as a sufferer, in keeping with paperwork.
Weber was ordered by a choose to not publish on social media something about Lamb or his enterprise. Court docket paperwork present Weber was additionally ordered to pay Todd Lamb $50,000 for damages.
Reached on Friday, Oct. 31, Weber mentioned the courtroom mentioned the $50,000 was for damaging the boat he traded in to Todd Lamb as a part of the fee for a brand new boat that Lamb agreed to construct in 2021.
“It simply would not make any sense. They made Todd the sufferer once I was the one he stole from,” Weber mentioned. “Why would I harm the boat that I used to be going to maintain?”
Ohio prosecutors: DeLand boat builder stole from boat house owners
Todd Lamb agreed to construct a brand new 32-foot Twin Outboard Spectre Excessive Efficiency Cat boat for Weber, which he by no means delivered, in keeping with the April 2024 lawsuit.
Ohio prosecutors mentioned Todd Lamb did the identical to different boat house owners – taking their cash and never constructing their water vessels.
In September 2024, Stewart offered the Information-Journal with indictment papers displaying the fees in opposition to Todd Lamb and Karen Lamb.
The Logan County courtroom paperwork confirmed the lambs engaged within the alleged felony exercise beginning in 2017.
Between Dec. 19, 2017, and June 19, 2020, the Lambs “disadvantaged an Ohio man of property and companies” and stole $143,650 together with two Mercury boat engines, the doc states.
From Feb. 9, 2018, by Oct. 10, 2018, the Lambs reportedly stole $209,339 from one other Ohio man.
An aged man from the state misplaced $300,462 to the Lambs, who by no means delivered property or companies to him, the courtroom doc outlined.
All of the funds taken from the Ohio residents had been paid to the Lambs to construct boats, Stewart mentioned.
“They by no means obtained their boats and they didn’t get their a refund,” Stewart mentioned.
The Lambs additionally disadvantaged Caterpillar, a heavy tools firm, of two hydraulic excavators in March and December 2020. And, the couple additionally defrauded Caterpillar as collectors of greater than $7,500 however lower than $150,000, the Ohio prosecutor mentioned.
“He signed a lease placing little cash down, after which he sells the machines and by no means paid the lease,” Stewart mentioned in September 2024.
This text initially appeared on The Daytona Seaside Information-Journal: Former DeLand boat builder Todd Allen Lamb responsible of fraud in Ohio
