Buck Reed Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud Investors

Former SJ man pleads guilty in scheme (Buck Reed)

Feds say Buck Reed swindled investors by offering gold riches

Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2014 6:00 am |  Updated: 9:15 am, Thu Mar 20, 2014.  

 By SCOTT AIKEN - HP Staff Writer

GRAND RAPIDS - Freeman "Buck" Reed, a former St. Joseph man charged with swindling investors who were offered a share of a cache of gold hidden in the Philippines, has pleaded guilty to a federal fraud charge.

Reed, 44, and another man were indicted in July in a scheme to cheat investors out of $1.3 million, money they solicited to recover the gold and some gold certificates.

Federal prosecutors charged that there was no gold and Reed spent the investors' money freely on himself. Among other things, Reed bought a pair of snowmobiles for $15,500 and spent $79,349 to build a large deck and hot tub with river view at his St. Joseph residence in 2008-09, the government alleged. Reed appeared in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids on March 13 to plead guilty to one count of fraud by wire, radio or television, a felony that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, according to court records. Reed pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement. The agreement was sealed by the court and not made public.

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Buck and Renee Reed lived in my home in Alpine for 10 months.