Prosecutors say Benjamin Richardson deceived lenders into giving loans that he never paid back, then filed for bankruptcy without reporting income he received from a nightclub he co-owned with a narcotics trafficker.

He was also convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, four counts of wire fraud, and two counts of making false statements

Richardson was ordered to pay restitution of $617,600 to lenders he deceived through the mortgage fraud.

Richardson was a trooper with the Ohio State Highway Patrol when he was charged and resigned when the charges were returned.

The state Department of Job and Family Services announced the figures Tuesday as it introduced a new website where tipsters who suspect fraud can report it anonymously.

The department says most of the cheating occurs when people try to collect unemployment while they’re working or after they’re gone back to work.

Last year, the state recovered more than $9.8 million in unemployment money that had been received fraudulently, out of $5 billion in benefits paid out.

More than 150 people were convicted of unemployment theft or similar charges.

The order issued Thursday in Columbus says the 51-year-old Schlichter must go directly to and from the Tuesday evening sessions and may not run errands or make other side trips.

Authorities say the former Indianapolis Colts quarterback defrauded more than 50 people in a million-dollar sports ticket scheme. Schlichter, whose NFL career was derailed by a gambling addiction, has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.

Plea agreements that call for him to serve about 10 years behind bars still need the judge’s approval.

The FBI say 34-year-old Andrew Hill ran an elaborate scheme where he lied to get mortgage loans to buy several southern Ohio properties. Then, investigators say, he attracted otherwise-unqualified buyers by promising to lie about their income and down payment. All four buyers eventually defaulted on their loans.

All in all, Hill is accused of securing more than $1.2 million in fraudulent loans, which led to more than $600,000 in losses for lenders.

Hill has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering. The charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

Prosecutors say long-time trooper Benjamin Richardson committed several crimes, including mortgage fraud that began in 2005 and bilked investors out of more than $600,000 on three properties. He’s also accused of not reporting ownership of a nightclub when he filed for bankruptcy in 2007. Other charges include wire fraud, making false statements under oath, and witness tampering, where authorities say he tried to prevent someone from talking to law enforcement.

The indictment came from a federal grand jury nearly two weeks but was sealed today. Richardson remains in the Franklin County Jail and is set to be arraigned Thursday. He could face more than 150 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Republican Louis Blessing cosponsored the bill. He said the measure was designed to protect the integrity of the voting process and combat voter fraud.

Democrats countered that it was an attack on the right to vote targeting the elderly, minorities and the poor.

William Anthony, head of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said the bill is “a solution looking for a problem.”

Assistant U.S. attorney Dan Brown says an American who’s yet to be charged and an Estonian were running a marriage business in Columbus. That business helped eastern Europeans from the former Soviet bloc find American spouses.

“The man from Estonia would find people who wanted to remain in the United States and couldn’t seem to get it done legally,” Brown says. “And the American would find a potential spouse who was willing to accept money in order to engage in the sham marriage.”

The problem is that a sham marriage for the purpose of evading immigration laws is illegal. But the desire to stay in the United States was a driving force says Brown.

“One of these men who paid an American woman to get married was from Uzbekistan and he came here and he ended up quite frankly just loving America. And he just couldn’t bear the thought of going home.”

That man was 22-year-old Sobithon Mirzaev who came to Columbus from Louisiana to get married.

“He lived in New Orleans, and he was so enamored with America that he was a regular volunteer cleaning up the mess left by Katrina,” Brown says. “So there are very strong feelings with respect to some of these people. The Americans accepting the money; I think that’s really reprehensible.”

Terry Sherman is an attorney for another of the defendants from Uzbekistan. He says that his client, who he would not name, was told that if he got married it would enhance his ability to get a green card. That’s a permanent resident card.

“Somebody set him up with an American, and they entered into a sham marriage for the purpose of obtaining a green card,” Sherman says.

According to the federal government the sham marriages occurred shortly after the foreign national and the U.S. citizen met each other; sometimes they got married on the same day.

Brown says marriages typically cost between $14,000 and $20,000 though the money wasn’t paid in a lump sum. That’s because the alien was leery that the American would simply get an annulment or a divorce. So, says Brown:

“There were payments to get the marriage license, payments to get married and then monthly payments which would culminate essentially in a pretty good lump sum.”

The couple did appear before immigration authorities even though they had not lived together.

“When the interview with the immigration authorities occurred and the interview would be with both parties and they had to make it look like they were a married couple and knew a lot about each other when in fact they didn’t even live together. They had to rehearse what they were going to say,” Brown says.

Khaalid Walls is a spokesman for ICE: the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Walls says sham marriages can lead to other crimes.

“Marriage fraud schemes do two things,” Walls says. “First of all, they basically hamper our overall security efforts because more often than not fake documents are used to perpetuate these crimes. And then secondly, individuals who enter into sham marriages end up sort of jumping the line on a path to citizenship so these individuals are unfairly put on a path to citizenship by entering into these marriages.”

U.S. attorney Dan Brown would not say how authorities uncovered the marriage fraud ring, because he says, the investigation is on-going and more people are likely to be charged. But he does say that marriage fraud is a widespread problem in the U.S.

“These are happening all over the United States,” Brown says. “Columbus is apparently experiencing this kind of illegality no more or no less than any other city of comparable size.”

That discovery launched what Phalen says is a fraud investigation involving as many as 400 vehicles and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Phalen alleges two car dealers sold cars, pocketed payments made by the buyers, repossessed the cars at the request of banks who were not receiving the payments, told the banks they could not find the vehicles and then resold the cars.

Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen says no charges have been filed. WOSU News will not name the dealerships until charges are filed.

Seven absentee ballot requests were turned over to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office for investigation of possible fraud. The ballots were handed in at the Franklin County Board of Elections. The board’s director, Michael Stinziano, says the ballots appear to have been filled out by one person.

“We’re not handwriting experts but we are required to do some handwriting analysis. And based on the pen, the print and the misinformation that’s consistent on the applications there seems to be similarities,” Stinziano said.

The Franklin County investigation is similar to an inquiry in Hamilton County where possible ballot fraud has also surfaced. A pro-casino issue group was raided after information on dozens of absentee ballot request forms failed to match election board records. Issue Three would allow casinos in four Ohio cities including Columbus.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said the signatures on the Cincinnati applications are similar to those on the ones submitted in Franklin County. But he doubts there’s a link.

“I don’t believe there’s any evidence that it is the same person other than the conversation with the people in Cincinnati that the signatures appear to be or the writing appears to be similar,” O’Brien said.

Elections officials say they will try to determine if the people whose names are on the questionable applications actually filled them out. If it turns out the applications were falsified, O’Brien said the Cincinnati suspect could be asked to provide a writing sample.

“So that an expert can do a comparison of the known handwriting of the suspect with the fraudulent handwriting on the absentee ballot request,” he said.

While the Hamilton County case has been connected to the pro-casino group Ohio Jobs and Growth, Stinziano said the possible fraud in Franklin County has not been linked to any issue or campaign.

“They’re on the Secretary of State’s form. So there’s no other indication on the form itself either who turned these in,” Stinziano said.

O’Brien said turning in false documents to the board of elections is a fifth degree felony. It’s punishable by up to one year in prison for each falsified application.

Customers who typically use the Scarborough Boulevard BMV agency to get their state-issued IDs will have to go somewhere else after June 26. The Ohio Department of Public Safety is closing the Far East Side location after a federal investigation found employees at the branch were involved in issuing phony state ID cards to illegal immigrants.

Public Safety Department spokesperson Linday Komlanc said the deputy registrar who runs the office – Jennifer Clemens – will lose her contract.

“This is the one of the first times that we’ve had this specific instance where we terminated a deputy for these reasons,” Komlanc said.

In April, Michelle Eckerman, a clerk at the Far East Side office, was sentenced to 30 months of probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy for her role in the scheme. Federal prosecutors say Ohio was chosen for the ID scheme because its BMV offices have contracted workers.

Komlanc explains how the contract between the deputies registrars and the state works.

“The BMV is run by a registrar. So these are deputy registrars who are contract employees. We put out requests for proposals. They submit a proposal that includes their business operational plan, their hiring plan, things of that nature. And they are required to follow all BMV policies. And essentially they operate those services for the state,” she said.

Komlanc said the closure is permanent. That particular branch has seven employees. Komlanc says they will not be transferred but could possibly apply for work at another BMV branch.

The Scarborough location was considered a medium traffic location – it served about 48-thousand customers last year.