Noe found guilty of Ohio investment scam

TOLEDO, Ohio, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- A Lucas County, Ohio, court has convicted coin dealer Tom Noe of rerouting a $50 million investment into a personal checking account.

The jury ruled that Noe, a Republican fundraiser, is guilty of taking the investment from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation and using it for personal purposes, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Tuesday. He was convicted of 29 of 40 charges brought against him.

Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said investigators sifted through more than 1 million records to build the case against Noe.

"It's a sad day because of the things that we learned about the system that has gone here," Bates said.

Democratic Attorney General-elect Marc Dann hailed the conviction as a "good start" and pledged to create a public integrity unit to investigate and prosecute similar cases.

"Who made all of this possible, within the bureau and within state government?" Dann asked. "This didn't happen in a vacuum."

Noe, who has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local, state and congressional Republican candidates pleaded guilty in May to violating federal election laws to give an illegal $45,400 campaign contribution to U.S. President George Bush. He was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for that incident.