Thomas Etheredge will spend at least the next five years in jail on multiple charges of securities fraud that stem from his efforts to raise capital for the failed Wild West World theme park in Park City.Etheredge was sentenced Friday, three weeks after he stood trial and was found guilty of seven counts of securities fraud. The Kansas Securities Commission said Etheredge defrauded theme park investors by failing to disclose information about his past criminal history, which includes previous securities fraud convictions, and his failure to pay taxes. He also induced, a Sedgwick County jury ruled, fellow church members to invest by touting a religious conversion that allegedly occurred while he was in prison in the 1980s.
The case was prosecuted by former Securities Commissioner Chris Biggs, who now serves as secretary of state, and Rick Fleming, general counsel for the Office of the Securities Commissioner.
