Virginia man sent to prison for swindling NC widow over bogus solar farm
A Virginia man will spend 21/2 years in federal prison for defrauding a Sampson County woman out of more than $228,000 by promising to develop a solar farm on her rural property, federal authorities said.
Posted — Updated
David Pharr, 46, of Portsmouth, Va., pleaded guilty in October to mail fraud. He was sentenced Friday to 31 months in prison.
According to court documents, Pharr promised the woman, a retired teacher whose husband had recently passed away, that he would develop a solar farm on her property, and she agreed to pay him an initial investment amount in exchange for the right to receive a share of the profits of the project.
But prosecutors said Pharr never installed the solar farm and never paid the woman any returns. Instead, from approximately March 2014 through May 2018, he persuaded her to send him money for purported expenses for the solar farm that he didn't actually incur, authorities said.
"This defendant cruelly tricked a vulnerable widow out of her retirement income as a result of his elaborate lies and deception,” Raj Parekh, acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.