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Florida Arrests Suspects in Securities Fraud Case

February 22, 2006
Two Floridians have been arrested for their involvement in a scheme that allegedly defrauded elderly investors out of more than $9.1 million, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said.

Patrick Kirkland and Laura Wade were arrested last night on charges of various securities fraud, organized fraud, grand theft and unlawful sale of unregistered securities charges. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution.

Authorities with the Florida Office of Financial Regulation began investigating Kirkland's Orlando-based company, Tropical Village, Inc., in May 2004 regarding the sale of unregistered securities.

Tropical Village is a development company that also does business under the names Clarity Development Corp. and Senior Adult Living Corp.

Kirkland, 63, and Wade, 35, targeted more than 80 wealthy elderly investors, convincing them to invest their money in multiple triplex apartments in several Florida cities, as well as Houston, Texas and Marietta, Georgia. Although investors allegedly were promised significant returns, more than $8 million of their money was diverted to Kirkland's personal use.

"These consumers thought they were going to receive huge returns on what appeared to be a legitimate investment," said Crist. "Little did they know they were being scammed out of millions of dollars. This operation absolutely needed to be shut down so no more innocent investors would be turned into suffering victims."

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today filed an emergency civil action to freeze the assets of the company in order to preserve those assets for eventual restitution to investors.

Kirkland and Wade face multiple counts of various securities fraud, organized fraud, grand theft and unlawful sale of unregistered securities charges. If convicted of all charges, each defendant faces a possible sentence of up to 130 years in prison.

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