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John Hammond, of Ortley Beach, pleaded guilty to theft by deception, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.
An investigation by the Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau revealed that between May 2017 and February 2019, Hammond deceived a friend by convincing him to invest $230,000 with him, promising large returns on his investment, Billhimer said.
Over the course of nearly two years, the victim deposited large sums of money into Hammond’s bank account — under the false impression that Hammond would be transferring the money into an investment account purportedly set up in the victim’s name.
When the victim asked Hammond to withdraw a sum of money from the investment account, Hammond perpetuated his scheme by creating fraudulent financial documents purporting to be from Fidelity Investments, Billhimer said.
The investigation further revealed that Hammond never invested the victim’s money, never set up an investment account on the victim’s behalf, but instead used the victim’s money for his own personal benefit, the prosecutor said.
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